


Clairvoyant

by kpop_Itsgreat963



Series: We Can Change Our Future [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Basically what you see in the show is what you get here, I'll update tags as I go along if I have to, Multi, They Actually Swear, Watching the Show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26439481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kpop_Itsgreat963/pseuds/kpop_Itsgreat963
Summary: The paladins and their families, as well as some of their allies, have been brought together by some strange entity. A strange entity that... wants them to watch their future?
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: We Can Change Our Future [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921921
Comments: 23
Kudos: 103





	1. Gathering the Viewers

**Author's Note:**

> So. This is a thing. That I did. And I'm kind of excited for it? But also really nervous? Anyways, I hope that you'll enjoy! As you can probably tell, this is a 'characters watch their show' fic. I'm aiming for one episode per chapter, with each part of the series being one season of the show (unless the season is super short, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there).

Shiro’s back hit the ground with a loud _thump,_ all the air in his lungs rushing out of him at once and leaving him breathless.

He took a moment to just lay there, eyes opening to stare blankly at the roof over him while he tried to catch his breath.

Had he just fallen out of his bed? But that didn’t make any sense - he had never fallen out of any bed he had been sleeping in before in his life. So why -

He groaned when it all came rushing back to him - the Galra, arriving back on Earth only to be thrown back into space in the blink of an eye, this time by a sentient spaceship in the form of a blue lion, not alone but with four kids (which was even _worse_ because they shouldn’t have had this burden placed on their shoulders), meeting the Alteans, getting the other lions, forming Voltron - all of which accumulated into passing out at the end of the day, wanting to not wake up again until all this bullshit was over with.

He reached up to rub his hands over his face, flinching at the unexpected coldness of his right hand, metal instead of flesh.

He was just about to sit up when there were several loud popping noises, followed by yelps of surprise and pain as flesh impacted with hard ground.

He bolted upright, falling into a defensive stance instinctively as he took in what was happening around him. 

The first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t familiar at all with the room he was in. While they hadn’t yet had the chance to explore all (or any, really) of the Castle-ship, he was willing to bet that this room wasn’t anywhere in it. For starters, it looked more like an Earth living room than anything in the Castle of Lions, missing the blinding white and light blue colouring, as well as any of the advanced technology. In fact, the only technology the room seemed to have in it was the giant tv screen, only a little smaller than what would be in movie theaters, facing rows of couches and bean-bag chairs arranged in a semi-circle around it.

There were four major hallways leading out of the main room, two of them on the east side and the other two on the west. Shiro could see that one of the hallways on the east opened up into what appeared to be an extremely large dining room, but the hallway beside it led to a staircase that went both upstairs and downstairs. The other two hallways just had rows of doors along them, propped open but not enough so that he could see what was inside them.

The second thing that he noticed was that various bodies were strewn all across the room. He couldn’t quite see all of them, but there were definitely more than seven people in here - in fact, if he had to guess, he would say there were more than thirty.

Six of the figures were who he was expecting, four of them being his new teammates and fellow humans, while the other two of six were ones that were quickly becoming familiar to him, belonging to Allura and Coran. 

Shiro just wasn’t sure if them being in the same room as him was a good thing or not yet. On one hand, they were all here, alive, and unhurt (small aches and pains notwithstanding). On the other, the fact that they were all captured at once meant that they had no one on the outside to stage a rescue mission.

Thankfully, the other paladins and the Alteans were the first ones to rise, blinking in shock when they noticed where they were and that they weren’t alone.

“What the hell?” Lance asked, rubbing at his side. He squinted at the nearest person, then blinked, rubbed at his eyes, and stared again. “Is that _my mother?!”_ he yelped, rushing to her side.

“What?” everyone else exclaimed, racing to Lance and crowding around him, looking down at the person - the _human_ \- that landed only a few feet away from him. 

She was only starting to come to, her eyes fluttering open to look at them looking at her. She blinked up at them for a beat or two before her eyes went wide and a scream tore out of her throat, high pitched and terrified - which Shiro figured was justified. He would be pretty creeped out too, if he woke up surrounded by strangers staring at him.

She sat quickly, all of them scrambling away from her to give her space except Lance, who ducked down to try to calm her. Her screaming tapered off quickly once she realized that the person in front of her was her son, but by then the damage had already been done.

All around them, everyone else was starting to rise from their own positions, revealing that most of them were humans. Quite a large number of them immediately rushed to Lance’s mom’s side, probably to protect her, only to stop short at the sight of Lance himself. Then, regaining control of themselves, they rushed again, this time to embrace Lance, hugging him and asking him questions in Spanish. Lance was trying to answer but every time he opened his mouth, somebody would cut in with their own question.

The other large group of humans moved towards Hunk, so Shiro could only assume that they were his family. 

Hunk’s smile, brighter than the sun, confirmed it.

Movement to his left caused him to turn in that direction, blinking in shock at the man he found there.

 _Is that Iverson?_ Shiro thought. The man had had one of the rougher landings, having fallen onto one of the coffee tables situated by the living room seats with a loud _bang. But why is he here? He’s not related to any of the others._

Then he gave himself a mental slap. _Focus, Shirogane,_ he berated himself. _The real questions are why and how_ **_any_ ** _of us are here._

He was about to turn to Allura, wondering if she knew how they got here, when Pidge’s cry of excitement sounded out from beside him.

“Dad! Matt!” she yelled, sprinting across the room to throw herself at them. Having not expected a Pidge-sized body to hurl itself at them, Matt and Sam Holt were unable to brace themselves for impact. Together the tree of them went down in a tangle of limbs, Pidge crying and laughing as she hugged her family close, her brother and father quickly getting over their shock to hug her back, finally able to hold their family close after over a year of imprisonment at the hands of the Galra.

But their little group hug wasn’t quite yet complete. Shiro watched as one more person rushed to join them, easily recognizing Colleen Holt, Pidge’s mother. She threw herself to her knees beside them, tears streaming down her face as she reached for her family. She was quickly pulled into the pile, as well, her arms and legs becoming just as entangled as the other Holt’s as her tears soaked into her husband’s shoulder.

Shiro smiled gently, his heart melting in his chest as he watched the reunion.

A hand landed on his shoulder and gave a squeeze. Shiro followed it back to its owner, meeting Keith’s eyes. He nodded towards them in a silent question but Shiro shook his head. As much as he wanted to go over there and see Commander Holt and Matt again, to make sure that they were as safe and healthy as could be expected under the circumstances, he could wait. For now he was content with watching while Pidge basked in the presence of her family, finally complete after being torn apart.

Quickly thereafter, though, he averted his stare, letting them have their moment without prying eyes. Instead he looked around the room, taking stock of who all was here. There were the paladins, of course, and their families, as well as Iverson. But there were also four other teens, these ones mostly unfamiliar to him. 

They were huddled together around Iverson, shifting uncomfortably and eyes darting around the room, taking in everything around them but unwilling to draw attention to themselves unnecessarily. 

The only one he knew from the group, besides Iverson, was the caucasian brunet, James Griffin. There had been more than one occasion where he had been called in to talk to Iverson because he and Keith had gotten into a fight.

But the other three he didn’t know. 

He nudged Keith with his elbow to grab his attention, then tipped his head in their direction.

“Recognize any of them?” he asked. “Besides Griffin, of course.”

Keith scowled at the sight of him, but he didn’t glare for more than a second of two. Instead he switched his attention to the others, his eyebrows furrowing. Then he leaned over to whisper to Shiro, “I’m pretty sure they were all in my year, but I can’t place the names.” At Shiro’s raised eyebrow he gave a shrug, looking away as pink tinted his cheeks. “You know how bad I am when it comes to socializing.”

Shiro gave a small chuckle, reaching up to mess up Keith’s hair and earning a punch to his bicep for his trouble.

He was about to go back in, for a headlock and noogie this time, but a quiet voice from behind him froze him in place.

“Keith? What’s happening?”

God, it wasn’t even aimed at him but it still felt like a solid punch to the stomach, leaving him breathless for a second time in less than five minutes.

How often had he thought about that voice leading up to the Kerberos mission? Hell, how often had he thought about that voice while _on_ the Kerberos mission? Those soul-crushing words in that voice had replayed themselves again and again whenever it got too quiet (which was often), and every night he went to be wondering what the right words were supposed to be, what he should have said, so that he never would have had to have heard them to begin with. 

Slowly, he turned around to face the owner of that voice, feeling all the while like he was moving through quicksand.

He hadn’t changed. Adam hadn’t changed. Shiro scanned his face, taking everything in like he was a blind man seeing for the first time. His skin was still a warm brown, his frames still half-framed, his eyes still a golden-brown, looking like someone had mixed brown sugar and honey together. God, he looked just like Shiro remembered. Seeing him again, it almost felt like coming home.

Just looking at Adam made emotions well up in him, rising so suddenly that Shiro almost choked on them. Love and relief and longing, but also anxiety and bitterness and shame. Love and longing because Shiro had never gotten over him, had never had a day where he didn’t think about Adam, didn’t want to curl up in his arms at home and feel _safe._ Relief and bitterness because he looked fine, he looked healthy, like he had never lost a night of sleep while Shiro had tossed and turned almost every night, first on the way to Kerberos and then after he had been taken prisoner. (He might not remember much, but what he did remember didn’t exactly project peaceful times.) And finally anxiety and shame, because while Adam still looked the exact same, Shiro - didn’t. Not with the scar across his face for everyone to see, not with the white in his hair to show how much he had been through in this past year, not with the prosthetic where his arm should have been, proclaiming just how _other_ he was now.

Adam looked just the same. 

Shiro hadn’t felt like himself since their break-up over a year ago.

“...Takashi?”

Shiro’s eyes shot back up to Adam’s. He hadn’t even realized that he had looked away. Still, he pulled a smile onto his face. It felt brittle.

“Hello, Adam.” He needed to force the words up his throat and out of his mouth, and his voice was hoarse and choked. But at least he managed to get them out.

A lone tear traced its way down his face, leaving a trail behind that burned. Another joined it. Then another.

Before Shiro could process that he was actually crying, strong arms were wrapping around him, pulling him into a strong chest. A hand came up to cup the back of his head, gently guiding it down so it could rest on a broad shoulder. 

The tears were coming faster now, Shiro not able to hold them back now that they had started. His breathing was ragged and he felt like he wasn’t able to catch his breath. Every time he inhaled, the air got caught in his throat, turning into a sob that he practically gasped out. His arms wrapped around Adam’s waist, his fingers clenching at the back of his shirt, desperate for something to ground him.

All the while, a warm hand smoothed up and down his back as that soothing voice murmured reassurances to him.

God, he couldn’t remember the last time he had cried like this.

Eventually, though, his tears ran out and his eyes dried up. Embarrassed by his breakdown, Shrio gave one last sniff before he pulled away from Adam. But he didn’t get far, Adam keeping him close so that he could reach up to cup his face, his thumbs wiping under Shiro’s eyes to get rid of the last of the tears clinging to his eyelashes.

With a start, Shiro realized that Adam’s eyes were also red-rimmed, a sure sign that he had been crying as well. He hadn’t realized. But before he could say anything, Adam smiled. It was just a small one, but the love packed into it and his eyes made Shiro’s heart jump in his chest.

“I missed you,” Adam confessed, voice a quiet murmur. He leaned forward, resting his forehead against Shiro’s as his eyes slipped closed.

Shiro’s did the same. “I missed you, too,” he whispered, almost too quiet to be heard.

A polite cough drew his attention away from his - boyfriend? Ex-fiance? Maybe-boyfriend? - whatever-Adam-was to see Allura standing beside Keith, smiling apologetically, with Coran right next to her.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, “but I think it best to figure out how we got here, and why.”

Shiro reluctantly pulled away from Adam, his cheeks heating up at the thought of people seeing him crying. He quickly shoved that to the side, though, dragging his mind back to the task at hand.

“Of course,” he said, offering her a smile of his own. He took a quick look around the room. Most of everyone else had moved over to the seats, getting comfortable while they talked. Even Iverson’s group had sat down, although there was a noticeable space between them and the others. The only people who had yet to sit down were the Alteans, Shiro, Keith, Adam, and a group of five people who were standing off to the side, their heads bent together, no doubt talking about what was happening.

Shiro’s brow furrowed as he took in their outfits. While everyone else was dressed in their preferred casual outfit - except Iverson, who was still in his military uniform, and Shiro was really starting to think he lived in the thing - those five had matching uniforms, and their faces were covered by masks.

“Do you know who they are?” he asked Allura, eyes not leaving the group.

“I do not,” she admitted, also keeping a wary eye on them.

As if feeling their eyes on them, the group broke from their huddle, walking up to Shiro’s own little group.

Allura stepped forward to meet them, back straight and chin up, confidence in every line of her being, no matter that four out of the five stood at least a head taller than her. 

“Hello,” she greeted. “I am Princess Allura of Altea. And this -” here she gestured to Shiro - “is Shiro, leader of the paladins. Might I inquire as to who you are?”

“I am Kolivan,” the one in front - Kolivan - replied, “leader of the Blade of Marmora. I had not realized there were Alteans who still survived.”

Allura’s face pinched, as did Coran’s, grief taking over for a second. Just as quickly it was gone, her face serene yet again. But Kolivan must have noticed it too, because his next words were:

“I apologize if I’ve brought up any unpleasant memories.” While the tone of voice was cool, the words themselves seemed to be genuine.

“It’s okay,” Allura brushed off. “You said you were the leader of the Blade of Marmora?” she inquired, receiving a nod as a response. “Might you tell me what that is?”

“We are a rebel group, fighting to end the Galran Empire,” Kolivan answered, voice serious. He hesitated, then reached up to remove his helmet, the others behind him doing the same, revealing purple skin and yellow eyes.

Shiro’s brain sputtered to a halt, shock running through him at the sight of five _Galras,_ four men and one woman, standing before him. Allura’s sharp intake of air parodied his own, but hers was probably for a different reason.

She was shocked because they were Galra. Shiro was shocked because he recognized one of them.

Just as quickly, though, Allura’s surprise was replaced by rage. “You quiznacking -” she spat out, a snarl on her face, reaching toward Kolivan. Her curse was loud enough that the people by the couches heard, their talk dying out quickly when they realized what it was that was upsetting her.

Shiro wasn’t quite sure what she would do if she got her hands on him, but whatever she did probab;y wouldn’t be a good thing. So he reached out with his right arm, grabbing her by the forearm to stop her.

“Princess, wait,” he said. “You don’t want to do that.”

Allura wrenched her arm out of his grasp, rounding on him with fury clear as day on her face. Beside him, Keith, who was already stiff to begin with, went even stiffer, clearly ready to move should she decide to take a swing at Shiro instead.

“Because that Galra,” Shiro hastened to explain, pointing at Ulaz, “was the one who helped me escape.”

She stopped short, her mouth open but not knowing what to say. Eventually, she managed to choke out a quiet, “What?” She gave herself a shake, then regrouped herself. “What do you mean, that Galra helped you escape?” she demanded shrilly. “And how do you know that they -” she gestured wildly at the members of the Blade of Marmora - ”didn’t plant that memory in your head to get you to lower your defenses around them? They are _Galra_ and _I do not trust them!”_ She was yelling by the end, hands curling into fists by her sides.

Impressively enough, the Galras in question managed to keep their faces straight, not betraying any emotion.

In the ringing silence of the room, it was easy to hear a little _pop_ sound. Brows furrowed in confusion, Shiro tore his gaze away from the princess’, looking up to see a piece of paper floating slowly downward.

Curious, Shiro reached up and grabbed it once it was close enough, bringing it to his face to see what was on it.

He scanned it quickly, eyebrows slowly raising the more he read. Finally, he raised his head to look back at Allura.

“Well?” she demanded. “What is it?”

Noticing that he had the attention of everyone in the room, Shiro cleared his throat and read out:

“ _Hello paladins and allies, I’m sorry for the abrupt change in scene. I wanted to help, but I wasn’t quite sure how until I finally settled on this. I’ve gathered you into this room so that you can watch what your future would have been, had I not intervened. I’m hoping that by doing this, all of you will have a better ending because while you did eventually end up happy, you still suffered more than you had to._

_I know that you all have lots of questions and you want answers, but I’m asking you to hold on to those questions for the time being. Some of them will be answered as you watch your future unfold, and some won’t. And if you end up asking a question that will be answered later, I’ll be sure to let you know that you’ll have to wait until it pops up._

_If you haven’t gone exploring yet, let me give you a brief tour of where you’ll be staying while you watch the future. The hallways on the west side of the room lead to the bedrooms, each of them personalized to fit your needs. They all have a closet full of clothes so you won’t be stuck wearing the same thing all the time, and each room has its own personal bathroom, also stocked with the things you’ll be needing. On the east side of the room is the hallway that leads to the kitchen and dining area, so that you can make your meals and eat at an actual table while you’re here, and the hallway beside it will take you either upstairs or downstairs, where you’ll be able to find a library, gym, entertainment room, and other such things._

_Now, some of you may be wondering why I brought these other people into the room if the show is about the Paladins. The reason I did so is because it never hurts to have your allies learn about what will happen so that they can prepare, too. Also, it’s always more fun when there are more people to react._

_And finally, it’s time I address the topic of the Galra. I know that you have no reason to trust me or them, but I promise you that they are on your side. Please just give them a chance._

_The remote for the tv is on the coffee table by Colleen. Whenever you’re ready to start watching the future, all you have to do is press play. It’ll pause automatically whenever any of you start talking, and start again when you finish. Once you’ve seen everything there is to see, I’ll return you to the exact moment in time you were taken from._

_Enjoy!”_

As soon as he finished reading, the paper popped out of existence, leaving behind an awkward silence.

“So we’re going to watch a show about ourselves?” Lance asked. A grin spread across his face. “Cool!”

In unison, the rest of the paladins groaned. But Lance’s spirit couldn’t be suppressed. He jumped up from his spot on one of the bean bag chairs and jogged towards their little group.

He snagged Shiro and Keith by their wrists to start dragging them over to the couches, Shiro shooting Adam a look before shrugging in a ‘what-can-you-do’ way as he followed behind Lance.

Adam shook his head fondly but followed after them nevertheless, sitting himself down on Shiro’s left while Keith took Shiro’s right.

That done, Lance plopped himself back down onto his previous seat, likely sensing that it wouldn’t be a good idea to try to drag the Alteans or Galras over.

Shiro watched as Allura shot one last dirty look at the Blades before she and Coran made their own way over, settling on the same couch as the Holt family, which left the last available couch open for the Blades.

Once everyone was sitting down more or less comfortably, Colleen reached for the tv remote. She paused before she picked it up though, instead taking a look around at the faces around.

“Sorry, I know you probably just want to start this to get it over with, but I feel like we should go around and introduce ourselves. There are a lot of us here, and I’d feel better if I knew everybody’s names,” she said, looking somewhat sheepish.

But she had a point, Shiro acknowledged. So one by one, they went around and introduced themselves, stating their names.

When it was his turn, he made sure to give the Holts a smile, happy to see them but acknowledging that this wasn’t the right time to play catch-up with each other.

Once that was over, Colleen reached for the tv remote again. She hit play.

The tv screen lit up.


	2. The Rise of Voltron, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The viewing gets underway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> So I'm just gonna drop this here for you and walk away like it hasn't been months since I posted the first chapter.
> 
> Enjoy!

**As the view moved through space, a title for the episode appeared on screen.**

**“The Rise of Voltron”**

“Okay, I’m sorry to stop this when it’s been literally only a couple of seconds - but what’s Voltron?” Matt questioned. Around him, everyone not in the know - who were really only the families of the Paladins and the Garrison cadets and teacher - also had curious looks on their faces, obviously wanting to know as well.

Pidge opened her mouth to explain, but was interrupted by another  _ pop _ and piece of paper. She caught it, then read, “ _ Just keep watching, it’ll be explained. This part has already happened. It’s being shown so that everybody can be on the same page.” _

Once again, it disappeared after the message was read.

Pidge offered her brother a shrug, and both of them turned back to the screen.

**The screen then shifted to show a frozen planet.**

**The words ‘Kerberos: Moon of Pluto’ appeared on the bottom right hand of the screen.**

Shiro felt himself go stiff, tension thrumming to life in his body. He wasn’t the only one. Beside him, both Adam and Keith were no more relaxed than he was. Pidge had grabbed hold of her brother’s and father’s hands, and Colleen clutched at the sleeve of Sam’s shirt.

But it wasn’t only the people directly affected by that mission that were suddenly a lot less relaxed than they had been just a second ago. Lance, Hunk, Iverson, and the other four teens (who were, as Shiro found out, cadets at the Galaxy Garrison) were shooting looks at Shiro’s group and the Holts when they thought no one was looking, trying for subtlety but missing by a mile. And the other Terrans were starting to clue in as well to who exactly Shiro and the Holts were, apparently only just realizing that ‘oh, weren’t those people declared dead because of a pilot error?’

(Keith had given him a quick update about what had happened after they had been abducted. And yes, Shiro was bitter as fuck that he was blamed for what had happened. He knew that people weren’t happy that he was selected as the pilot, but to be declared the reason why the three of them were thought to be dead stung in a way he didn’t know it could.)

The only ones who were confused about the sudden tension in the room were the Galras and the Alteans.

Allura caught his eye, the question clear on her face, but Shiro shook his head, unwilling to answer.

**An ice sample was being pulled from the ground, careful fingers reaching to pull it out of the drill.**

**The screen pulled back to show Matt and Sam Holt in space gear, their faces visible through their helmets.**

**“Easy, son,” Sam said, hands twitching as he watched Matt extract it. “This is delicate.”**

**Matt smiled. “Amazing. Isn’t this exciting, Shiro?” He glanced to his left.**

**Shiro was holding the drill steady, a small smile on his scarless face.**

From the corner of his eye, Shiro could see comprehension dawning on Coran and Allura’s faces.

**“You guys get a little more excited about ice samples than I do,” Shiro teased, but there was no denying the fondness in his expression.**

**“This is history in the making,” Sam added, then explained, “Not only have we traveled farther than any human ever has, but this ice could hold microscopic clues about the existence of life outside Earth.”**

**As he explained, the view pulled back so that they could see the little worksite of the trio, which was really just a few boxes, the drill, and themselves, with a Galaxy Garrison car parked near them.**

**Then it was back to a close-up on Matt, showing him finishing extracting the ice sample as he looked to his father.**

**“Think of it, Dad. We could use those clues to become the first people to meet aliens.”**

**“My life’s work would be complete,” said Sam.**

The Matt in the living room let out a weary sigh, hands scrubbing over his face as he leaned back against the couch. “I just had to jinx it, didn’t I?” he muttered, the sound muffled by his hands.

Shiro looked at him sharply, as did the rest of his family. 

Pidge reached out and punched his shoulder, not backing down when Matt let out a yelp, bringing his hands down to rub at the spot she had just punched, a glare trained on his little sister.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said, voice and eyes hard, daring him to contradict her.

Sensing the brewing fight, Sam was quick to intervene. “Katie, don’t hit your brother,” he reprimanded. He turned to Matt, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Your sister is right, though.” He made sure to catch Matt’s eyes. “ _ It wasn’t your fault. _ They would have taken us whether you had said that or not.”

Matt searched Sam’s gaze for a moment longer, trying to find - something. Shiro wasn’t quite sure what, exactly. But he must have found it because he gave a small nod, turning his attention back to the TV.

Once everybody was back to paying attention to it, the show started again.

**Even as Sam admitted that, though, the ground started to rumble, causing the three Terrans to look around.**

**“What is that? Seismic activity?” Sam questioned.**

**It was obvious that although Shiro didn’t know what was causing it, he wasn’t very eager to find out. “We should get back to the ship,” he said, letting go of the drill to put a guiding hand on the Holts, trying to urge them away from the worksite and into something that would hopefully give them more shelter.**

**Yet even as he did that, a large shadow grew over them and the sound grew louder.**

**The three men looked up into the sky, showing that it was a giant Galra ship that was moving in over them.**

Around the room there was the sound of sharp inhales, everyone finally understanding what had caused the earlier tension.

Colleen had tears starting to build in her eyes, but she refused to look away from the screen.

**“What? What is** **_that?”_ ** **Sam asked, terror bleeding into his voice. “It can’t be-” he cut himself off.**

**The camera pulled back out, showing the audience just how large the Galra ship was compared to the humans.**

**Then it switched to Shiro’s face, his eyes wide. Reflected off his visor, they could see that the Galra ship had activated its tractor beam, causing it to glow purple. Shiro’s eyes found a way to widen even more.**

**He didn’t hesitate to grab the Holts’ arms, spinning them around and dragging them after him as he started to run. “Run!” he ordered. “Come on, run!”**

**The Galra ship activated its beam, firing it at the planet below. Even as the three of them tried to escape, running away from it as quickly as they could, it made no difference. The beam quickly gained on them, lifting them and clumps of ground up and off the planet’s surface.**

**The screen faded to black, leaving their yells to fade out and taper off.**

Shiro felt Adam grab his left hand but when he looked at him, Adam was still facing forwards, eyes fixed on the screen.

His jaw was clenched, but Shiro didn’t know if that was because he was angry or trying to hold back any tears.

Warmth blooming in his chest despite what was happening on the TV, Shiro twisted his hand to lace their fingers together, giving Adam’s hand a reassuring squeeze. 

On his other side, Keith slumped into against him, letting Shiro know that he was there for him, too.

**The screen stayed black for a few seconds more, but a muffled voice was heard speaking.**

**“Emperor Zarkon,” it said, “we were scouting System X-9-Y as ordered when we found these primitive scientists.” As it said this, the screen showed Shiro regaining consciousness, giving a blink in confusion before everything came back to him.**

**His head shot up, fully alert. Based on the two sentries standing behind him, each holding a gun, the viewers could guess that he had been placed on his knees.**

**The screen switched to show a Galra standing at a control panel, back to his prisoners, talking to an image of Zarkon, though the only thing they could make out of him was a black silhouette and purple eyes.**

From the corner of the room the McLains had claimed as their own, Lance let out a large and obnoxious “boo”, making sure to draw it out and then making another one once that one was over. His niece and nephew, as well as Hunk’s, were quick to pick it up, all of them letting out their own “boo”s to chorus him.

The adults were quick to chuckle, hoping to ease the tension in the room that had started to build back up.

With a satisfied air, Lance leaned back into his bean bag chair, shooting a look at Shiro as he did so.

Shiro mouthed a thank you to him, fondness washing through him at Lance’s answering smile.

**Back on screen, the unknown Galra was still talking to Zarkon.**

**“I don’t think they know anything useful.”**

**Zarkon wasn’t having any of that, though. “Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation,” he ordered.**

**The screen moved back to Shiro, showing him turning his head to look at his fellow humans. They, too, were on their knees, but their heads were still facing downwards. It was impossible to tell if they had yet to regain consciousness since Shiro’s helmet was the only one that had been removed. There were two more sentries posted behind them, also holding guns.**

**“The druids will find out what they know,” Zarkon continued.**

**Shiro whipped his head forwards at that. “Please, we come from a peaceful planet!” he said. “We mean you no harm!”**

**The Galra turned, expression one of disgust at having been addressed by what he considered to be a lower life-form.**

**Still, though, Shiro continued, hoping he could get through to the alien in front of him. “We’re unarmed!” he said desperately.**

**But all it earned him was getting smacked by a gun between the shoulders by one of the sentries.**

The pressure on his left hand was starting to verge on painful by this point, but Shiro refused to ask Adam to let go or loosen his hold. Because for all that it hurt, he felt like that hand was the only tether he had, the only thing stopping him from spiralling down the rabbit hole.

Time had dulled these memories somewhat, and he didn’t appreciate just how vividly this show was bringing them back.

**With a groan, Shiro pitched forward, the camera taking his point of view as he hit the ground and lost consciousness once again, the screen fading to black.**

**He blinked back into consciousness to find himself being dragged across the ground, one of the Holts walking behind him, held firmly in place by a sentry.**

**As he tried to regain his barings, he blinked and looked to the left. He saw doors lining the wall, eyes looking at him from almost all of them.**

**“Look, they brought in another one,” a voice said.**

**The camera left Shiro’s point of view, instead giving the viewers a shot of Shiro’s face as he tried to focus.**

**Still more voices whispered.**

**“Who is it?”**

**“Over there, it’s another one.”**

**Finally, Shiro managed to grunt out a “huh?”, turning his head just in time to catch a glimpse of what looked like hundreds, if not thousands, of prison cells through a door’s window, all of them stacked one atop another.**

**He let out a gasp, terror plain on his face.**

**The screen went black.**

**When the next scene appeared, it brought with it the familiar sight of Kerberos. The words on the bottom right of the screen read: One Year Later.**

“Wait a minute,” James Griffin cut in, voice incredulous. “It’s just going to leave it like that? Don’t we get to find out what the hell happened to Shirogane and the Holts while they were held captive?!”

Keith shot up from his spot beside Shiro, anger practically radiating off him, and rounded on James.

“Listen up, asshole,” he barked out, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but those three are currently in the room, and I don’t think they would appreciate living through their year of hell again, especially with other people watching, just so you can satisfy your curiosity!”

James had gone even more pale than he already was by the end of Keith’s rant, flinching back from Keith. “No, that’s - I didn’t - I wouldn’t -” he spluttered, hands coming up into an ‘I surrender’ position.

Kinkade reached across Leifsdottir to clamp his hand across Griffin’s mouth, stopping him from possibly sticking his other foot in his mouth.

Shiro reached up to grab hold of Keith’s jacket, tugging at it until he looked back at him, then offering him a soft smile when he did.

“It’s okay, Keith,” he said. “Thank you for defending us, but I don’t think that’s what Griffin meant. Is it, Griffin?” James shook his head quickly, Kinkade’s hand still firmly keeping his mouth closed. “See? He’s just worried about how we were treated, right?” Vigorous nodding. “See, it’s all good. Why don’t you sit back down?”

Keith hesitated for a moment, glancing between James (who was trying to free himself from his friend’s hold) and Shiro, before ultimately deciding to do as his brother asked. He plopped himself back down, grumbling under his breath about assholes and brothers that were too forgiving.

Adam let out a quiet snort. He leaned in and whispered into Shiro’s ear, “I see your teenager-wrangling skills haven’t gotten rusty.”

Shiro elbowed him gently in the side, smirking at the huff of air Adam let out.

Shooting him a betrayed look, Adam straightened back up, pointedly ignoring the look Keith was shooting him.

**The screen pulled back from outer space, showing the planet through the window of a spaceship.**

**“Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14,” came Lance’s voice. “Begin descent to Kerberos for rescue mission.”**

**The shuttle was guided downward, shaking as it entered the planet’s atmosphere.**

“Wait, you guys went on a rescue mission to get us?” Matt asked, cocking his head to the side.

Pidge winced. “Uh, not exactly.”

Matt raised an eyebrow at her but she didn’t elaborate. Confused, Matt turned back to the screen.

**Hunk, sitting behind Lance, let out a groan.**

**“Lance, can you keep this thing straight?” he asked. He didn’t look too good.**

**Lance shrugged his shoulders at his friend, dismissing his worry. “Relax, Hunk, I’m just getting a feel for the stick.” He gave a smirk. “It’s not like I did this! Or this!”**

**He jerked the stick in a couple different directions, Hunk groaning as he was flung from side to side in his seat.**

**Hunk looked like he was going to hurl. “Okay, unless you want to wipe beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing, you better knock it off, man!” he exclaimed, sitting up a little higher in his seat.**

**The camera changed to show one of the screens in the ship picking up a signal. Pidge turned away from the screen to look at the other two. “We’ve picked up a distress beacon!”**

“Um, Katie? What are you doing at the Garrison? You’re only fourteen, young lady,” Sam asked, turning to his daughter. “And what happened to your hair?”

“Forget that,” Matt said. “Why are you wearing my glasses?”

“Well,” Pidge said, dragging the word out in order to buy time, studiously avoiding her father’s eyes. 

Beside her husband, Colleen also turned her head away, pretending she had no part in her daughter’s disguise.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Lance interjected, turning around in his seat to look at her. “You’re a girl?!” he exclaimed.

Allura also looked stunned by this information, but surprisingly Coran and Hunk didn’t.

_ Well, I already knew, of course,  _ Shiro thought,  _ and so did Keith once she told us she was a Holt. But when did Hunk and Coran know about her being a girl? _

“Uh, yeah?” she said in response to Lance, shrugging her shoulders at him.

Apparently satisfied with that answer, he turned to the rest of his teammates. “And you all knew and didn’t tell me?” he said, crossing his arms.

“I thought you knew?” Hunk offered, trying to placate his friend.

“Nobody tells me anything,” Lance sulked, slouching dejectedly. 

Veronica patted him on the head, perhaps a bit mockingly. “There, there,” she deadpanned.

But Sam wasn’t so easily sidetracked. “Well, young lady?” he pressed.

“I, uh, may have created a fake identity in order to sneak into the Garrison to find out what happened to you and Matt,” she admitted, rubbing at the back of her neck. “But Mom knew about it  _ and _ helped me create the disguise!” she added, unashamedly throwing her own mother under the bus.

Sam whipped around to face his wife, gaping, while Matt burst into laughter, clutching at his stomach and wheezing because he was laughing so hard.

“Colleen!” Sam choked out.

“Well, we weren’t buying the story they were telling us and they wouldn’t tell us the truth! What else were we supposed to do?” Colleen defended.

It seemed that Sam didn’t quite know what to make of his daughter committing crimes with his wife’s permission. He shook his head slowly, at a loss. “We’ll talk about this later,” he finally settled with. “And you can stop laughing at any time, Matt,” he dryly added. ****

Matt shot him a thumbs up, still snickering to himself. ****

Unable to help himself, Shiro leaned over to Adam. “I think the funniest part is that Iverson never once suspected Pidge was Katie, and she was at the Garrison for months.” ****

That set Adam off into his own fit of laughter. He tried to cover it by playing at it being a coughing fit but, judging by the looks he was getting, no one was buying it. ****

Shiro just straightened himself, smiling innocently. ****

Once Adam and Matt had settled down enough to not be distracting, the show started to play again. ****

**Lance grew serious. “All right, look alive, team! Pidge, track coordinates.” He tapped at the screen in front of him.** ****

**Pidge turned back to her station. “Copy.”** ****

**Hunk groaned again when the ship started to shake. His eyes were closed and he was grabbing at his arm rests, groaning. “Knock it off, Lance! Please!” he called, even as a computer started beeping in the background.** ****

**Lance turned to look at him.** ****

**“This one’s on you, buddy. We’ve got a hydraulic stabilizer out,” he told him.** ****

**Hunks eyes opened. He reached out to grab the screen in front of him, pulling it closer.** ****

**When the ship rattled again, he looked close to puking. “Oh, no.”** ****

**Lance wasn’t having any of it. “Oh, no. Fix now, puke later,” he ordered, not taking his eyes off where he was flying.** ****

**“I’ve lost contact. The shaking is interfering with our sensors,” Pidge called out.** ****

**Lance turned around at that, facing Hunk.** ****

**“Come on, Hunk!”** ****

**“It’s not responding.” Hunk unbuckled himself, staggering to the right side of the ship.** ****

**Kerberos came into view through the window.** ****

**“Never mind, fellas. Thar she blows.” This was said like a pirate, for some reason. Then he went back to talking normally. “Preparing for approach on visual,” said Lance, nonchalant despite the beeping and shaking still going on in the background.** ****

In the viewing room, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were cringing at their screen selves, blushes rising on their faces. The other cadets, though, were having the time of their lives, grinning and snickering to themselves as they watched their (former?) classmates make fools of themselves. ****

_ And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my team, _ Shiro thought. ****

**Pidge turned to face him. “I don’t think that’s advisable with our current mechanical and -” she shot a look at Hunk, who was trying to inspect where the problem in the machinery was, looking worse and worse by the second “- gastrointestinal issues.”** ****

**“Agreed,” Hunk seconded. He heaved, but thankfully didn’t actually puke.** ****

**Lance shot them a look. “Stop worrying. This baby can take it, can’t you, champ?” He gave the dashboard in front of him a pat.** ****

**The ship rumbled.** ****

**Lance pulled his hand back like it had been burned, yet nevertheless still tried to play it cool. “See? She was nodding.” He quickly turned his wide eyes back to the front. “She was nodding,” he repeated, as if that would help make it true. “Pidge, hail down to them and let them know their ride is here,” he continued, not giving them a chance to refute his claim.** ****

**Pidge rolled her eyes but complied, unbuckling herself and standing on her chair so that she could reach the comms placed above her.** ****

“What’s the matter, sis? Arms too short to reach?” Matt teased. ****

Pidge turned red but didn’t bother to acknowledge him, resolutely keeping her eyes facing forward. ****

**“Attention, lunar vessel-” was as far as she got before the shaking threw her off her chair. She let out a little yell as she fell, hitting the ground hard.** ****

A collective wince from the humans went around the room. ****

**But the Lance on screen didn’t have the same sympathy the one in the room did.** ****

**“What are you doing?” he barked at her. “Buckle your belt. And Hunk, stop that shaking!”** ****

**The camera switched to show Hunk, still bent over the box and trying to find out what was wrong.** ****

**“I’m trying!” he said, then gagged. “Oh, no.” He had finally reached his limit. Not able to hold it back any more, Hunk vomited into the box in front of him.** ****

In the room, Hunk groaned and buried his face in his hands, trying to make himself as small as possible and doing a surprisingly good job of it, considering his size. ****

His mother rubbed his back. She knew better than anyone where Hunk got his motion sickness from. She was more surprised that he had lasted that long, honestly. ****

**Meanwhile, Pidge had made it back into her seat and buckled herself in, comm in hand.** ****

**“Attention, lunar vessel, this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango.”** ****

**In the background, Hunk stopped puking, closed the lid to the box, then snuck back into his seat and did up his harness, the other two completely oblivious to his actions.** ****

**“Coming in for landing and extraction - against crew recommendations,” she grumbled, shooting Lance a dirty look.** ****

**Lance gave her the stink eye in return. “No time for your mutinous comments now, Pidge. They’re going under and we’re going in.”** ****

**The camera once again faced through the front window, letting the viewers see an ice overhang coming up quickly. Then it faced back towards the humans.** ****

**Pidge and Hunk looked terrified, hands clawing at their armrests.** ****

**“Look out for that overhang!” she called out and Lance, being himself,** **_turned around to look at her._ ** ****

Keith let out a groan, not even surprised at his teammate's stupidity.  _ Seriously, _ he ranted to himself,  _ what kind of moron looks away from where they’re flying when they’re so close to hitting something! _ ****

Shiro, for his part, had his hand covering his eyes and was peeking through his fingers.  _ Is it too late to claim I don’t know them? _ ****

And then there was Adam, who was laughing like a loon while he watched the trainwreck playing out on the TV. ****

**“No worries!” he said. “My first year in flight school, you know what they called me? They called me “The Tailor” because of how I thread the needle,” he bragged. He faced forwards again, dipping the ship’s left wing towards the ground, his crew screaming in the background.** ****

**The camera switched angles, once again facing the overhang as Lance tried to angle the ship for a clean pass through. “Come around, come around! Come on, come on!” he muttered.** ****

**His efforts were in vain though.** ****

**The screen by Hunk started to flash red and started to beep again, listing the damage the ship had received. “We lost a wing!” he yelled, stricken.** ****

**There was a close-up on Lance, showing his distinctly unimpressed face.** ****

**“Oh, man,” he grumbled.** ****

**The ship hit one of the ice mountains with a loud bang.** ****

**The screen went black.** ****

The only reasons the families of the Paladins weren’t tearing their hair out with worry throughout the whole disaster of a flight was because their children were sitting beside them, completely unworried about the crash but faces burning scarlet with embarrassment. Although everyone was sure that a gray hair or two had been added from the stress of still seeing it. ****

**‘Simulation Failed’ popped up on the screen, a robotic voice reading out the words.** ****

**All three teenagers were fine, though they did look dejected.** ****

**“Nice work, Tailor,” said Pidge, as sarcastic as sarcastic could be. Behind all three of them, doors were opening up, showing Iverson and solid ground waiting outside.** ****

**Iverson leaned against the opening and called, “Roll out, donkeys!”** ****

_ Ah, Iverson,  _ Shri thought, smile tugging at his lips.  _ Some things just never change. _ ****

**The scene shifted, showing a close up of Iverson as he talked. “Let’s see if we can’t use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students.” As he talked the camera shifted again, showing him standing in front of Pidge, Lance, and Hunk, who were lined up outside the simulation ride, shoulders slouched and looking at the ground. Their class was standing at the other end of the platform, the one father away from the simulator, and they and few more teachers and other officers were observing the three teens as they got reamed out by Iverson.** ****

**Iverson believed very,** **_very_ ** **much in tough love, and those three were getting a giant helping of it.** ****

**“Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator.” He turned towards his other students, all cadets dressed in the Garrison’s orange uniform, except for the next group of three who would be going in after - they were wearing flight suits.** ****

**“The engineer puked in the main gear box!”** ****

**“Yes. As everyone knows, vomit is** **_not -”_ ** **he barked at Hunk, causing him to jump “- an approved lubricant for engine systems. What else?”** ****

**“The comm spec removed his safety harness,” another said. She had just barely finished before another girl cut in, saying, “The pilot crashed!”** ****

**“Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump they’re arguing with each other.” He turned back to face the three Paladins, hands on his hips. “Heck, if you’re going to be this bad individually, you’d better at least be able to work as a team!” Iverson lectured.** ****

At this Allura turned towards her Paladins. She had been quiet for the entirety of the disastrous flight simulation, but at this point she really couldn’t hold herself back. “I hope you realize those criterias don’t apply to you as Paladins,” she said. ****

They all shot her confused looks, not quite sure what she meant by that. Seeing this, Allura explained, “While I do agree with - Iverson, was it? - Iverson about needing to work as a team, the other part I have to strongly disagree with. If any of you act like that while on a mission, you will be facing double the amount of drills you would on a normal day. Do I make myself clear?” She raised an eyebrow at them. ****

They all nodded hastily. ****

Coran twirled his mustache, happy that the princess had commented on it. Because if she hadn’t, he would have. Mistakes did happen, no one was perfect after all, but if any of the Paladins acted like that out in the field, someone could end up dying - either themselves or an ally or a civilian. And it was also just as important that they didn’t act like that while training because any bad habits developed there meant bad habits that would follow them out into the field. ****

At the far corner of the room, the Blades were also approving of the young princess’ words. The Paladins should be pushing themselves to be the best they could be at every opportunity. Slacking wasn’t to be permitted in their order, nor should it be allowed anywhere else.

**“Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astroexplorers, but these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission,” he berated.**

Just like that, the sting was back. Shiro knew that that was what the Garrison was telling everyone, but to hear it actually come out of Iverson’s mouth - Shiro didn’t expect the betrayal he felt to run so deep.

“ _ What did you just say?” _

Shiro snapped his head around, looking at Samuel Holt in disbelief. The man, usually so kind and patient, had fury etched onto his face, a dark glare trained on where Iverson sat.

The cadets sitting with him actually backed away, as if to say ‘see? We’re not actually with him, we’re just here because there were no other spots available’.

“Wait a minute, Holt,” Iverson tried to placate, hands raising into a surrender position. “I’m not the one who made the call to say that’s what happened, you know that. I was just following orders.”

“Bullshit,” Sam spat, everyone gaping at him for his language. “Just because that was the official story doesn’t mean you had to repeat it whenever it wasn’t necessary. There was no real reason to bring that up right then - you could have just as easily used an older mission that went to hell, one that was  _ true, _ but you didn’t. Why not?”

Iverson clenched his jaw, not backing down. “I picked that one because it was the most recent one to have happened so it was on everyone’s minds. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t actually true because they all thought that it  _ was _ and I needed the most effective tool I had at my disposal to hammer my point home.”

Then he sighed, shoulders loosening and tone softening. “I know that I didn’t want Shiro to fly the Kerberos Mission, and I know how vocal I was about my opinion. But I wouldn’t have said any of that if given the choice between saying it and not. Shiro is a damn good pilot and a damn good man, and he didn’t deserve to have mud dragged all over his name like that. But my hands were tied. If I would have tried to say anything else besides the official story, I would have been tried for treason.”

Shiro looked away from him, instead focusing on where Adam’s hand was still clasped with his own, playing with his fingers like they actually stood a chance of distracting him from the conversation taking place.

There was an awkward silence for a beat or two.

Sam sighed, leaning back against the couch and rubbing at his forehead. But he didn’t say anything else, so the conversation must have been over for the moment.

**On screen, Iverson’s last remark had pushed Pidge over the edge. “That’s not true, sir!” she yelled, hands balling into fists at her sides.**

“Damn right it isn’t!” Veronica yelled, obviously upset at having been lied to.

**“What did you say?!” he snapped at her.**

**Lance, freaking out, did the first thing that came to mind: he covered Pidge’s mouth with his hand, muffling whatever else she was trying to say.**

**He started talking instead. “Sorry, sir. I think he hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken.”**

**He let go of Pidge, both of them straightening as Iverson stalked towards Lance.**

**“I hope I don’t need to remind you that the only reason you’re here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out.”**

“Huh,” Shiro said, “I forgot about that with everything else that’s been going on.” He reached over and gave Keith a smack upside the head.

Keith yelped, ducking his head and bringing his hand up to rub at where he had been hit.

“What the hell was that for?” he complained.

“For getting kicked out,” Shiro responded flatly.

Keith grumbled under his breath to himself, not bothering to try to get into an argument with Shiro. If he tried, all Shiro would do was say some bullshit “be the better man” type of thing that he really didn’t need another lecture on.

Satisfied that he wasn’t getting any (real) backtalk from Keith, Shiro then reached up with his left hand and cuffed Adam, too. Before Adam could ask what he did to cause the abuse, Shiro said, “You let Keith wander off to become a desert hermit.”

Adam decided that was fair enough.

**Iverson loomed over Lance.**

**“Don’t follow in his footsteps.” He turned his head and barked out “next!”, leaving the camera with a view of Lance’s downtrodden expression.**

**The next crew passed by the dejected cadets, entering the simulator.**

**The scene changed to an outside view of the Galaxy Garrison, night having fallen.**

**Iverson was walking through the hall, calling out for the students to get back into their dorms because it was going to be lights out in five.**

**Lance, out of the flight suit and into his regular clothes, peeked his head out from behind a corner, watching as Iverson walked away.**

**Hunk was shown behind him, muttering to his friend, “We shouldn’t be doing this.”**

**Lance waved him off. “Relax. You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team. We’re gonna grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls-”**

**The lights shut off, leaving the hallways in total darkness even as Hunk interrupted.**

**“I’m just - I’m just saying this here, right now, on the record - this is a bad idea.”**

**Lance looked decidedly unimpressed, ignoring Hunk in favour of jogging down the hallway to their left, avoiding the being spotted by the two officers standing in the other hallway as Hunk trailed after him.**

**Together they kept jogging down the hall, Lance saying, “You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don’t have much of a sense of adventure,” as they went, ducking down under the window of an officers’ lounge to avoid being spotted.**

**“All of your little ‘adventures’ end up with me in the principal’s office,” Hunk shot back, checking over his shoulder to see if anyone was coming up from behind them.**

**Another scene shift, showing a guard as he patrolled down the hallway. He walked past two recycling bins, reporting the all clear as he went, leaving Hunk and Lance to pop out of the bins once he had left their general vicinity.**

This prompted chuckles out of all the humans present (except Iverson, who could only shake his head in exasperation), the loudest of it coming from the four children that were present.

Allura and Coran traded looks, unsure why all the Terrans were laughing.

Curious, Coran leaned over to Pidge, giving her arm a tap to gain her attention.

“Excuse me, but what’s so funny?” he asked.

“Those bins Hunk and Lance were hiding in? Those were garbage bins,” she explained, humour dancing in her eyes.

“I see,” said Coran, pinching at his mustache. “Thank you, number 5.” He leaned back over to Allura. “I don’t see.”

Her confused expression hadn’t changed either, so they chalked it up to being a weird Terran thing.

Across the room, the Blades of Marmora weren’t much better off. They were having no better luck at understanding why the humans were laughing. While the hiding spots weren’t the most practical place, they served their purpose of hiding the two boys - wasn’t that a good thing?

**Lance and Hunk continued on their way to Pidge’s room, getting there just in time to see her running out, carrying a backpack.**

**Suspicious, they watched as she ran down the hall.**

**There was another scene change. This time the viewers were looking at the top of the Garrison building, the only sign of life being a small shape by the solar panels on the roof.**

**The camera zoomed in closer, showing them that the small shape was Pidge. She had a couple of computers sat in front of her, earphones on her head as she listened to whatever was playing on them.**

**The camera cut to the side, giving the watchers a side profile of her face.**

**Her eyes were closed, and she was clearly concentrating on whatever was being played.**

**Slowly a tanned hand snuck into the frame, Lance’s face soon following.**

**He moved the earphone away from her ear, bringing his lips closer so that he could whisper directly into it.**

**“You come here to rock out?”**

**She let out a yelp of shock, pulling away and twisting around so that she could see who had snuck up on her.**

**Lance was kneeling just beside her, Hunk still slowly crawling his way towards them.**

**“Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at the stars.” It was obvious that she was lying.**

Matt snorted, reaching out to rub at Pidge’s head. “Still can’t lie, I see.”

She gave him a sheepish smile, shrugging her shoulders to convey the ‘what can you do?’ feeling.

**The others didn’t buy it but chose to ignore it for the time being.**

**“Where’d you get this stuff?” Lance questioned. “It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.” He squinted at her suspiciously.**

**Pidge gained a smug look. “I built it.”**

**Hunk inched closer, reaching out to touch. “You built all this?”**

**Without looking, Pidge smacked his hand away. “Stop it. With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.”**

**“That right? All the way to, say, Kerberos?”**

**She pouted at being caught.**

**Lance gave her an incredulous look. “What, did you think we didn’t notice? You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What’s your deal?”**

**While he talked, Hunk took his chance to sneak his way closer to her tech again, actually managing to get his hands on part of it before she noticed.**

**Pidge shot a glare at him. “Second warning, Hunk!”**

**Hunk groaned, sulking, but let go of the satellite dish he was touching.**

**“Look, Pidge, if we’re going to bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets.”**

Cue more head nodding from the Alteans and Blades.

**Her back to the two boys, it was easy to see when her shoulders slumped and she gave in.**

**She looked at them over her shoulder. “Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake.”**

**Hunk’s hand entered the audience’s view again, sneaking forward to try to press at Pidge’s screen.**

**She whipped around to face him. “Stop touching my equipment!” she yelled.**

**Hunk gave another groan and flopped over onto his side.**

Another wave of muffled snickers passed through the room, this time with the Alteans joining in. Only the Galras kept their faces perfectly smooth.

**The camera focused onto the back of Pidge’s head again. “I’ve been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.” She flicked a glance at them.**

**Hunk bolted upright, surprised. “Whoa, what? Aliens?” he repeated.**

**Lance, meanwhile had stood up and was looking decidedly unimpressed. “Okay. So you’re insane. Got it,” he deadpanned.**

Even more muffled snickering.

**Pidge glared at him. “I’m** **_serious,”_ ** **she stressed. “They keep repeating one word: Voltron.”**

“Again with the Voltron?” Matt groaned, flopping over to bury so that he was laying across his family’s laps. “Why can’t you just tell us what it is already?” he whined.

Pidge smirked at him, digging her finger into his ribs and relishing in his yelp of pain. God had she missed being able to do that.

“Calm down, you’ll find out soon enough,” she told him.

“Good to see that he’s still as patient as ever,” Adam whispered to Shiro and Keith, bringing smirks of their own to their faces.

**“And tonight, it’s going crazier than I have ever heard it.”**

**“How crazy?” Lance asked.**

**Pidge was interrupted from answering by Iverson’s voice coming over the PA and the school alarms blaring. “Attention, students! This is not a drill! We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”**

**The three cadets looked at each other in confusion, none of them quite understanding what was happening.**

**But something in the sky caught Hunk’s attention. He pointed up at it and the other two followed his finger, the scene shifting so that the viewers could see that something had entered the atmosphere and was falling in their general direction. “Is that a meteor?” squeaked Hunk. “A very, very big meteor?”**

**Pidge grabbed the binoculars sitting on her bag and brought them up to her eyes. “It’s a ship,” she reported, then yelped as Lance grabbed at the binoculars.**

**But she didn’t let go, leaving her to hang there as Lance used them for himself. “Holy crap! I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”**

**The camera took on his point of view, allowing the audience to get a good look at the alien ship streaking towards the ground.**

**“That’s** **_not_ ** **one of ours,” he stated.**

**The camera returned back to facing the teenagers.**

**“No,” Pidge agreed, “it’s one of** **_theirs.”_ **

**“So wait - there really are aliens out there?” Hunk exclaimed.**

**The faces lit up as the ship passed them, the glow it gave almost blinding. It continued past them, impacting out by the mountains in the desert. Even from so far away, they could hear the noise of impact and feel how the ground shook.**

**Three Garrison trucks pulled out of the base, each of them heading to the impact site at full speed.**

**Pidge was packing her stuff up. “We’ve got to see that ship!”**

**Once that was done, she and Lance took off running, Lance calling for Hunk over his shoulder.**

**Hunk sighed but dutifully followed after them.**

Shiro gave the three of them a look.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re too curious for your own good?” he asked, one eyebrow raised in disapproval.

All he got in return were innocent grins, none of them looking the least bit sorry for chasing after something that could have been extremely dangerous.

Well the joke was on them. None of their parents were looking happy with their choices, either, so they were all probably in for a scolding once this episode was over.

**Another setting change.**

**The three cadets were shown to be sitting on a small cliff overlooking where a quarantine chamber had been set up next to the alien ship.**

**A pair of binoculars zoomed in on the dome, night vision enabled so that everything could be seen easier.**

**It moved around, taking stock of the alien ship and all the officers surrounding it. Lance made a noise of awed disbelief, signaling that he was the user of the binoculars.**

**He moved them to the entrance of the dome, zooming in even more on the female officer that was exiting out of it.**

**“Who the heck is she?” his voice practically purred.**

**A smack sounded out, Pidge giving out a warning of, “Lance!”**

**“Ow!”**

Keith gave him an unimpressed look. “You deserved that.”

Lance opened his mouth to argue but cut himself off after catching a glimpse of his older sister’s raised eyebrow. She clearly agreed with Keith, He wasn’t going to risk her wrath while he was still within her reaching distance.

**Her warning served its purpose, Lance focusing back on the task. He lowered the binoculars down. “We’ll never get past those guards to get a look,” he informed them.**

**Hunk seized his opportunity without any hesitation.**

**“Aw, man. Yeah, yeah, I guess there’s nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?” He gave them a hopeful look, getting ready to stand so that they could head back.**

**His hopes died a quick and merciless death when Pidge told him to wait, mentioning that a camera had been set up in the chamber and that she had managed to bring it on screen.**

**“Look!” she urged, pointing at her computer.**

**They all took a peak at it, allowing the viewers a chance to see what was happening inside.**

**Shiro’s figure was easily recognizable but he had changed from the last time he had been on screen. Even from a distance, it was easy to see that his right arm had been replaced by a mechanical prosthetic and his bangs had gone white. He was wearing some kind of jumpsuit, with a ratty purple shirt over that.**

**He was also strapped to a medical table, struggling against his bonds. Two officers dressed in HAZMAT suits stood on either side of it, a third in the corner.**

**“Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you.”**

**That was Iverson’s voice, which meant he had to be in one of the suits. His voice was trying for soothing, but Shiro paid him no attention, becoming more frantic the longer his movement was restricted.**

Adam mentally raised Iverson a couple of spots on his Shit List. First he had lied about what had happened on the Kerberos Mission, and now this? He had  _ known _ that Takashi had made it back to Earth - hell, Iverson had even  _ talked _ to him! - but hadn’t thought to inform Adam that his presumed-dead ex-fiance was alive now that he had concrete proof? Yeah, no, Adam wasn’t okay with that. He was going to have to keep a closer eye on him from now on.

**“You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds!” Shiro exclaimed, trying to impress upon them the direness of the situation. “Aliens are coming!”**

And now he was getting weird looks from most everyone in the room, aliens excluded. Which was just great. The absolute best. Exactly what he needed.

His face burning, Shiro buried it in his hands and let out a groan of embarrassment, regardless of the fact that he was still holding one of Adam’s. “In my defence, it  _ was _ true,” he said weakly, peeking out from between his fingers.

Adam patted at their joined hands with his free one, saying, “there, there,” which was completely unhelpful, in Shiro’s opinion.

Keith was a lot more blunt.

“You sound like you’re off your rocker.”

“Thanks, Keith, I hadn’t realized that.”

“You’re welcome,” he deadpanned.

James let out a huff of laughter, turning his head away when Keith searched the room to find out where it originated from.

Maybe he didn’t dislike Kogane as much as he led everyone to believe, but it wasn’t like he actually needed people to know that.

Unfortunately, though, doing that meant that he caught Nadia’s eyes instead.

She gave him a shit-eating grin.

“Shut up,” he hissed, face warming slightly.

“I didn’t say anything,” she sing-songed back, happy as a clam.

**Lance pointed at the screen. “That’s Shiro, pilot of the Kerberos Mission!” he said, brows furrowed. “That guy’s my hero!”**

**“Guess he’s not dead in space after all,” Hunk tacked on.**

A beat of awkward silence. Two.

That was all Adam, Matt, and Lance lasted before they were  _ absolutely howling, _ clutching at their sides and with tears in their eyes.

“Um, wow,” was all Shiro could get out, at a loss for words.

“Hunk!” Hunk’s mother yelped, mortified at her son’s complete lack of tact.

“Sorry, Shiro,” Hunk apologized, hand rubbing at the back of his neck.

“It’s okay. Just unexpected, really,” assured Shiro, brain still trying to get back into working order.

By this point the other three were wheezing, not able to catch their breaths between their cackles. Lance had literally fallen off his bean bag chair from laughing so hard, now laying face-down on the carpet, one hand curled into a fist, whacking at the floor with it.

He managed to gather the strength to lift his head and look at his friend, panting out, “I completely forgot you said that!” whenever he had enough air. His head thunked back against the ground, shoulders shaking.

The other two weren’t much better off.

Shiro decided they were a lost cause. “It’s probably best to just ignore them and go back to the show,” he informed everyone else. He shot another glance at Adam. Yeah, no, he probably wasn’t going to be done for a little while longer. “Shall we?”

Thus prompted, they all returned their attention to the screen.

**Pidge was focused on one topic only, though - her family. “Where’s the rest of the crew?” They all leaned closer, like that would somehow help them hear what was being said better.**

**The camera shifted again, this time moving inside the tent and focused on Shiro. This close, all the viewers could see the horizontal scar running over his nose. His eyes kept shifting from left to right, trying to keep the other officers within his line of sight at all times.**

Shiro pulled a face at his image on screen, bringing his left hand - freed from Adam’s once he had started laughing - to rub at his scar. He had a feeling that that was going to take some getting used to.

**“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Iverson questioned.**

**Shiro struggled against his bonds again. “I don’t know - months? Years? Look, there’s no time.” He raised his head, looking to where the other officers were standing, all of them completely ignoring his words. “Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They’re probably on their way. They’ll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!” he pressed, urgent.**

**The view changed back to the cadets and their shocked expressions, then back to the dome.**

**“Sir, take a look at this,” one of the officers said. A close-up of Shiro’s right arm appeared on screen. “It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.” Shiro’s hand clenched into a fist, the parts giving off a soft** **_whir_ ** **sound as they moved.**

**“Put him under until we know what that thing can do,” Iverson ordered.**

Whatever good atmosphere that was present in the room vanished, almost everyone giving Iverson a glare. Even the four Garrison cadets didn’t look too happy with the Commander’s decision.

The only ones not glaring at Iverson were the Blades of Marmora. While Kolivan agreed that precautions should be taken when an unknown (if Shiro could even be called that) showed up, seeing as they could have been a threat, it didn’t make sense to him to put that unknown into a state of being unable to give information. It would have been better for the human Commander to restrain that arm or, barring that, remove it completely, thus removing the threat it possessed while still allowing him access to the information that Shiro had.

“Dick,” Adam coughed into his fist, not trying to be subtle at all. He had claimed one of the bean bag chairs, moving it so that it was pressed up against Shiro’s legs and he could lean his back against the front of the couch. 

**Shiro started to thrash even harder, trying to gain leverage so that he could sit up properly. “No, no, no! Don’t - don’t put me under! There’s no time!”**

**Outside, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were watching incredulously, not believing what they were seeing.**

**Pidge made up her mind. If the Garrison wasn’t going to take any steps in finding out where her family went, she would just have to do it herself. She turned to Lance, the most likely of the two boys who would help her. “We have to get him out.”**

**Hunk protested, pointing out that they were spying in the first place because the dome was too heavily guarded to get into in the first place.**

**Pidge and Lance started to brainstorm on how they could sneak in, dutifully ignoring Hunk’s attempt to get them back to the Garrison before anyone found out they were gone.**

**Lance had just finished mentioning that they would need a distraction to be able to rescue Shiro when large, consecutive explosions went off in the background, getting them all to yelp.**

They weren’t the only ones. The civilians jumped, letting out shouts of surprise, their hearts racing from the scare.

The Alteans and Galras sat up straighter, expressions weary and eyes focused on the screen. The Galras chasing Shiro couldn’t have reached the Terrans’ planet already, could they? The viewers snuck discreet looks over at the Paladins, tension draining from their shoulders when they realized the teens were as relaxed as before. But if it wasn’t the Galras causing those explosions, who or what was?

**Meanwhile, the Hunk on screen was freaking out. He was squatting down with his arms over his head for protection, babbling, “Is that the aliens? Is - are they- are - is that the aliens? Are they here? They got here so quick!”**

**Something caught Pidge’s eye. She leaned over slightly, squinting at whatever it was.**

**“No, those explosions were a distraction - for him.”**

**She used her left hand to point out a hoverbike racing towards the Garrison set up, coming in from the opposite direction of the explosions as the Garrison officers pulled away in their vehicles.**

**“The Garrison’s headed towards the blast, and he’s sneaking in from the other side,” she continued.**

**The binoculars came up again, zooming in to a lithe figure in a distinctive and familiar red jacket jumping down from where he had parked his hoverbike behind a large rock.**

“No way!” Nadia gasped, clapping her hands together in excitement and bouncing in her seat. She turned towards Keith. “Dude, that’s so cool!”

Keith blushed. “Uh… thanks?” he said hesitantly. He had never really gotten along well with his former classmates - although to be fair, he hadn’t  _ not _ gotten along with them either (except for Griffin) - so he was a little taken aback at hearing the genuine enthusiasm she was directing towards him.

“Where did you get the explosives?” Kinkade asked, leaning around the other teens (and Iverson) so that he could look at Keith directly.

Keith shrugged, unwilling to say exactly how he had managed to get them with Shiro and Adam sitting right beside him. He was already getting side-eyed by both of them already, and he was pretty sure the only reason he wasn’t getting a lecture was because he had made use of the explosives to rescue Shiro.

**While Keith was taking refuge behind the large rock, looking to make sure the coast was clear, Lance’s voice came from off screen.**

**“No way! Oh, he is** **_not_ ** **going to beat us in there!” The screen switched back to Lance as he lowered the binoculars. “That guy is always trying to one-up me!”**

This caused snickers to break out from the other cadets in the room, prompting the others to give them curious looks.

“What’s going on?” Lance’s mother questioned, brows furrowed in confusion.

James exchanged a quick look with his friends, trying to determine if it was worth it to explain what had caused their laughter. It wasn’t like the others really had to know, since it was more of an inside joke among the cadets than anything else, and it wasn’t like explaining it would suddenly make it hilarious to everybody else. Except everyone was looking at him and his friends, clearly wanting to know what they thought was so funny.

James shrugged to his friends, had them shrug at him in response, and set to explaining. “It’s just a little inside joke in our class. Everybody knew that Kogane never really paid attention to anybody in class since he was more focused on flying, but McClain thought that Kogane was snubbing him on purpose. Whenever McClain mentioned being rivals with him, Kogane would always be confused because he had no clue about what McClain was going on about. And that just ticked McClain off even more, making him even more determined to be acknowledged as Kogane’s rival. It was a vicious circle, really.” Just thinking about it was enough to make James start to smile.

“There were bets on whether Keith would ever notice Lance or if Lance would give up first,” Ryan cut in.

The little girl sitting with Lance’s family - Nadia, was it? Well, that would get confusing, what with the cadet Nadia - tilted her head to the side, clearly thinking hard about something. “I don’t get why it’s so funny,” she finally admitted. The boy beside her started nodding his head rapidly in agreement.

James gave her a soft smile, charmed. “It’s okay, squirt. Like I said, it’s a little bit of an inside joke. It’s funnier for the people that were there to see it.”

The kids shrugged, attention already focusing back on the screen, apparently over the conversation. The rest of them followed their lead, the show starting up again.

**Lance started making his way down the slope, binoculars still clutched in his hands.**

**“Who is it?” Hunk called after him, Pidge standing up beside him with her backpack on.**

**“Keith!”**

**“Who?” Pidge asked.**

**But Hunk was already starting to jog off after the other boy, leaving Pidge to stand there with a confused look on her face. “Are you sure?”**

**“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere!” came Lance’s voice from off screen.**

Keith brought up a hand to touch at his hair, flushing slightly pink when everyone else - Gals included - turned to look at his hair, a few nodding as if to agree with Lance.

Shiro reached out to give it a ruffle, offering him a small smile as he did so. “Welcome to the club,” he lamented, giving his own white forelock a flick.

**Finally, Pidge started to follow after the two boys, trying to get them to answer her question about who Keith was, only to be ignored as all three made their way over to the site.**

**Back inside the quarantine chamber, Shiro had been sedated, laying completely still as the scientists conducted whatever their tests were. One had just finished commenting on a chart of some sort when the doors to the chamber opened to reveal Keith, a bandana pulled up over his nose and mouth.**

**He did not look happy.**

**Immediately, the scientists rushed toward him so he took up a fighting stance.**

“A very good reaction time,” Thace said, glancing over at Iverson in approval.

Iverson accepted the praise with a small nod, happy that his men hadn’t startled at seeing an unknown enter into what was supposed to be a secure site - even if that unknown didn’t seem to pose much of a threat because of his age.

Of course, his pride took a blow when all three of the adults were taken down so easily by a teenager, all of them going sprawling with only one or two hits.

Thace winced. Perhaps he had spoken too soon.

Shiro, on the other hand, was incredibly proud of the boy he considered as family. He nugged Keith in the side to get his attention. “Well done,” he muttered with a grin.

Keith gave a small twitch of his lips upwards in answer, happy with the praise he received.

Adam reached over to pat his leg, adding in his two cents as well.

**The scientists dealt with, Keith raced over to Shiro’s side, pulling his bandana down when he got there. He reached out to turn Shiro’s face towards him, shock flitting across his features when he realized who exactly it was he was seeing.**

**“Shiro?” he uttered, incredulous.**

**Not wasting any more time, he pulled out a knife to cut Shiro free.**

Krolia let out a soft noise. While she was glad to see her blade passed down to her son, it still made her heart ache. She had had her suspicions about what had happened to her partner when she noticed that he hadn’t appeared in the room, but her heart still panged in longing at the confirmation. The only reason her son would have that knife was if his father was no longer living.

**Keith had just finished hauling Shiro up and putting one of his arms around his shoulder for support when the other three teens came into the chamber themselves.**

**“Nope. No, you - no, no, no. No you don’t. I’m saving Shiro,” Lance was saying, making his way over to them. He grabbed hold of Shiro’s metal arm to swing over his shoulder even as Keith gave him a weird look.**

**“Who are you?” Keith asked, baffled. He clearly had no idea who Lance was.**

**Lance was offended. “Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance.” He gave Keith a look, waiting for the metaphorical lightbulb to go off in the other boy’s head.**

**It didn’t happen.**

**“We were in the same class at the Garrison,” he said, starting to become indignant that his “rival” wasn’t recognizing him.**

**“Really?” Keith asked him dubiously. “Are you an engineer?”**

Veronica’s lips were twitching at Keith’s obliviousness. “Okay, I can see how this would be good entertainment,” she admitted, shaking her head fondly at the scene playing out.

Shiro gave Keith a side-eye, silently judging him. Keith twitched, obviously able to feel the look but refusing to give the older boy the satisfaction of reacting to it.

**“No, I’m a pilot! We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck.”**

**That seemed to have jostled a memory loose for Keith.**

**“Oh, wait, I remember you,” he said. “You’re a cargo pilot.”**

**That was obviously the wrong thing to say. Lance immediately became defensive.**

**“Well, not anymore. I’m fighter class now, thanks to you washing out,” he snapped.**

“Well that was rude,” Lance’s mother scolded her son, giving him a disappointed look.

Lance hung his head, just knowing that he would be scolded for that later. “Sorry, Mama,” he muttered, flicking his eyes to her and then away again.

She gave his forehead a light flick, her way of saying that she wanted him to look at her. When he was, she nodded her head to the side, indicating towards Keith.

He sighed but dutifully called out a “sorry” to the other boy all the same.

Keith looked like he didn’t quite know what to make out of it, but he nodded his acceptance to it anyway.

**The Keith on screen wasn’t impressed. “Well, congratulations,” he responded drily, even as they started walking to the door, Shiro being dragged along between them.**

“Look at you, being the damsel in distress,” Adam teased, tilting his head back to look at Shiro.

Shiro gave him a wry grin, shrugging.

**The viewers were back to looking through the binoculars, letting them see the Garrison soldiers were coming back from the explosions, their silhouettes visible from the fire that still raged on behind them.**

**“Oh, man. They’re coming back and they do** **_not_ ** **look happy,” came Hunk’s voice. “We got to go.”**

**The camera shifted to show that the teens had successfully removed Shiro from the quarantine chamber. Hunk and Pidge were keeping a look out, while in the background Lance and Keith were making their way to the large boulder Keith had parked behind.**

**Hunk and Pidge were quick to turn around and join them. Once they joined the other three, Pidge wasted no time in clambering onto the hover bike, not even bothering to ask Keith if she was allowed to or not.**

**Hunk was a little more polite, but only just. “Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?” he asked Keith. But he didn’t wait for an answer, already moving around to the back of the bike.**

**Lance was in the process of handing Shiro to Pidge, Keith getting onto his seat, when Hunk jumped onto the back of the bike, causing it to tilt back at the additional weight and the others to let out yells as they were tossed back.**

**“Uh, is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?” Pidge asked, looking around at all of them.**

**“No,” Keith replied, annoyed, voice taking on the quality of ‘duh’ that implied the answer should have been obvious.**

**Unfortunately, though, they didn’t have more time to come up with a better plan - the Garrison cars were already too close.**

**Keith quickly turned his bike on and opened up his throttle, turning his hoverbike around as soon as he could to pull away.**

The kids were cheering, obviously pleased with the car chase scene that was sure to follow.

Shiro was also looking forward to seeing how they managed to get away, since he was unconscious at the time.

Hunk’s mother leaned over to her husband to whisper, “Is it bad that I’m hoping our son is successful in this kidnapping attempt?”

“At this point, who knows,” he muttered back.

**On the hoverbike, Lance was giving Pidge Shiro to hold.**

**“Why am I holding this guy?” she protested.**

“Hear that, Shiro?” Matt teased. “You’ve been down-graded to ‘this guy’.”

“Ha, ha, you’re hilarious, Matt.” Shiro very maturely stuck his tongue out at his friend, then smirked at Matt when his friend’s sister jabbed her brother in the ribs.

**“Hey, we did all fit,” Hunk said, clearly surprised that no one had fallen off the bike yet.**

**Lance glanced behind them, taking in the Garrison cars that were getting steadily closer. “Can’t this thing go any faster?” he asked, worried. He turned back to Keith.**

**“We can toss off some non-essential weight,” replied Keith, voice as dry as the desert they were driving over.**

**Lance thought this was a great idea, looking around to see what could be gotten rid of. It took a couple of seconds for him to clue in to what Keith really meant. “Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.”**

**Keith ignored him, opting to call back to Hunk instead. “Big man, lean left!”**

**The hoverbike went sharply to the side, the others calling out “whoa”s as they went. They Garrison cars followed, but one of them hit something on the road that caused it to flip, taking out one of the other cars, leaving only two to follow after the escaping teens.**

The children started cheering while the adults winced. That wouldn’t have been pleasant.

**The hoverbike was now making its way up a steep slope.**

**“Aw, man!” Hunk exclaimed. “Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery!” A beat. “No, no, he’s fine!”**

**“Big man, lean right!” Keith directed.**

**Hunk did so, causing the hoverbike to shoot across a canyon. Hunk, Pidge, and Lance all let out screams of fright.**

**The two cars behind them followed right behind them, driving off the cliff with no hesitation.**

The families of the Paladins clutched at their chests, hearts beating frantically. Although logically they knew that their children were fine, that didn’t stop them from having near heart-attacks at their kids being  _ driven off a cliff. _

**Thankfully, all three of the vehicles landed on another cliff that was further down, but one of the cars wasn’t able to handle the drifting turn that came right after they touched down, causing it to flip a few times. The other car, though, managed to stay in pursuit, swerving around the crashed one to stay on the teenagers’ tail.**

The relief everyone felt was quickly washed away, though.

**“Uh, guys?” Hunk squeaked, pointing straight ahead at something off screen. “Is that a cliff up ahead?!” he stammered.**

**The camera moved to show that it was indeed a cliff up ahead.**

**Lance immediately started yelling out “no”s, joined in by the others, but Keith just smirked and leaned over his handles, accelerating to and over the cliff’s edge, all the others screaming their heads off.**

Everyone gaped at the screen, not quite believing what they were seeing. The only ones who didn’t have their jaw hanging by the floor were the Paladins and Adam.

Krolia was the first one to regain her wits. She whipped around to face her son and the two men he was sitting with. She gestured forcefully at the screen. “What were you thinking?!” she screeched.

Keith gave her a weird look. He didn’t understand why a Galra cared so much about his trick, but he could safely say that it was very disconcerting to be on the receiving end of her worried look. He leaned slightly farther away from her, pressing closer to Shiro’s side.

Shiro, sensing his unease, draped an arm across his shoulder. “It’s fine,” he promised. “I personally showed Keith how to do that trick. Nothing’s going to happen to them.”

The female Galra glared at him but backed down, unwilling to push them on the matter. From the way they were looking, neither would appreciate her questioning them or their driving abilities.

But she still wasn’t happy about her son’s recklessness. It was one thing to do it by himself, but he was also putting the others with him in dranger with that stunt.

The other families were somewhat mollified with Shiro’s confidence in Keith’s driving, but they were still shooting the younger teen looks, clearly questioning if he was completely sane.

**The car chasing them was forced to a stop at the end of the cliff.**

**“What are you doing!?” Lance yelled as the hoverbike fell practically horizontal to the cliff. “You’re going to kill us all!” The camera zoomed in to show that Lance was clutching at one of the bike’s wings.**

**“Shut up and trust me!” Keith shouted back. He waited another second, then quickly squeezed on his throttle and pushed down on his left pedal. The hoverbike’s wheels reversed, catching it before it could hit the ground. The teenagers shot off into the desert, completely unharmed, while the Garrison officers were forced to watch them drive off from inside the car still idling on the cliff.**

There was a collective sigh of relief.

**There was another scene change.**

**Keith’s hoverbike was parked beside a well-taken-care-of shack. On a sandy hill just beside the house, Shiro was standing and looking at the sun just starting to rise. Keith was walking to join him.**

**The camera zoomed in to show Shiro staring at his right arm where flesh became metal at the elbow, his expression a mix of many different emotions. He was dressed in all black, the clothes probably having belonged to Keith’s father.**

**Keith reached out yo put a hand on his shoulder, jolting the older out of his thoughts.**

**“It’s good to have you back,” Keith said softly.**

The viewers shifted in their seats, uncomfortable. It felt wrong, somehow, to be seeing this quiet moment between the two of them, like they were ruining the moment by bearing witness to it.

**“It’s good to be back,” Shiro admitted. His lips quirked up gently at the corners, not quite a smile but close.**

**“So what happened out there? Where were you?” Keith asked, voice gentle as he let his hand slide off Shiro’s shoulder.**

**Shiro’s expression pinched, eyebrows furrowing as he sighed. “I wish I could tell you. My head’s still pretty scrambled.” He looked off into the landscape. “I was on an alien ship, but somehow I escaped. It’s all a blur.”**

Ulaz turned to stare at him, surprised. “You do not remember your time on the ship?” he questioned.

Shiro hesitated in answering him. For one, he didn’t feel comfortable talking about his lapse in memory with all these people present. He was naturally a very private person, and he didn’t like sharing private things with lots of people, especially when he had only met the majority of them in the past twenty-four hours. Secondly, he wasn’t sure exactly how much he should tell the Galra. Just because they were (tentative) allies didn’t mean that he should go blabbing all of his secrets to him. He debated for a moment before making up his mind.

“I remember some things,” he said slowly, “but they’re just bits and pieces. Sometimes things just come to me, but other times something triggers a flashback. I’m not quite sure why I don’t remember everything, but it is what it is.” He gave a helpless shrug, trying to appear like the holes in his memory weren’t bothering him as much as they actually were.

Ulaz crossed one arm over his chest and brought his other hand up to his chin. “How odd,” he muttered to himself. Perhaps the experiments Haggar performed on Shiro had some kind of side effect on his memory?

Hmmm. He would need to come back to that thought later.

**Shiro turned back to Keith. “How did you know to come save me when I crashed?” he asked.**

**Keith motioned towards the shack. “You should come see this,” he answered.**

“Well that’s not cryptic,” Matt muttered to his sister.

She snorted.

**Together, the two of them made their way back to the shack.**

**The Paladins-to-be were gathered in its living room, watching as Keith pulled a sheet off a cork-board covered in images, string, and notes.**

“Well that’s… something,” Colleen said, taking in as much as she could.

“That’s one way of putting it,” James mumbled to his friends.

“Are we sure Kogane’s not crazy?” Nadia questioned drily, shooting a look at the raven-haired teen from the corner of her eye.

Ryan and Ina shared a look and shrugged. They honestly couldn’t say. There were times when Kogane was the sanest person in the room, but then he did things like make a conspiracy board and they weren’t too sure anymore.

**“What have you been working on?” Shiro asked, dumbstruck.**

**“I can’t explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda… lost, and I found myself drawn out to this place. It’s like something… some energy, was telling me to search.”**

The Alteans caught each other’s eye, thinking the same thing. Keith must really have good instincts, if the Blue Lion was able to influence him without him actually being her Paladin.

**Shiro turned to Keith when he paused. “For what?” he prompted.**

**“Well, I didn’t really know at the time -” he raised his hand and placed it lightly onto the map, drawing the others’ attention to it - “until I stumbled onto this area. It’s an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings.”** ****

**The camera panned to show a few images of what could only be described as a lion.** ****

“Is… is that a lion?” Sam asked, squinting at the screen like that would magically change what the image looked like. ****

“Yup,” Pidge nodded, popping the “p”. ****

“A lion,” he repeated, voice completely devoid of any emotion. ****

“Uh-huh,” Lance said. ****

“You know what, I’m not even going to ask,” he said, giving up on trying to make sense of why there would be a picture of a lion on a cave wall in the middle of the desert. He sighed, pushing his glasses up so that he could rub at the bridge of his nose. ****

Honestly, Iverson wanted to join him. If this was going where he thought it was, he was going to need a drink to get through this. ****

**On screen, Keith continued explaining.** ****

**“Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night.” He glanced back at Shiro. “Then you showed up.”** ****

“That’s just plain freaky,” Luis muttered to his wife, to which she nodded. It was actually sort of creepy, when she thought about it too hard, so she was just going to “nope” out of that before it got out of control. ****

**That finished, they both turned to look at the three other teens in the shack with them.** ****

**“I should thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?” Shiro moved closer to the younger boy, hand held out for a shake.** ****

**Lance reached out, only to hesitate before actually making contact with Shiro’s metal hand, expression hard to read. Just as quickly, though, his face smoothed out and he smiled, closing the distance between the two.** ****

**Shiro’s arm whirred audibly in the silence, but he didn’t seem to notice. He then held out his hand to Hunk and Pidge.** ****

**Hunk stared at it, not quite sure what to make of it, but Pidge swooped in to save things before they got too awkward.** ****

**She clapped Hunk on the back. “The nervous guy’s Hunk,” she introduced. “And I’m Pidge.” She, too, reached out to shake Shiro’s hand. Then it was right down to business. “So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?”** ****

Matt facepalmed. “You really don’t waste time, do you?” he asked, voice fond. ****

Sheepishly, Pidge shook her head no. Beside them, their parents looked like they were praying for strength - or for their daughter to develop some tact. It was hard to tell. ****

**Shiro looked away, thinking. “I’m not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it’s just bits and pieces.”** ****

**“Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens.” It seemed that Hunk had found his voice. “Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for us? Where are they at this very moment?”** ****

“That’s a good question,” Coran mused, stroking at his mustache. “I’m surprised that they haven’t yet arrived.” ****

Shiro shrugged in response. He honestly wasn’t sure why they had taken so long, either. It had certainly felt like they were breathing down his neck for the entire fly back to Earth. ****

**“I can’t really put it together,” Shiro answered, apologetic. “I remember the word “Voltron”. It’s some kind of weapon they’re looking for, but I don’t know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.”** ****

There were decisive head nods from the Alteans and the Galras. The humans had most definitely needed to find it before the Galra empire could. ****

The humans (excluding the Paladins) shared uneasy glances among themselves. What exactly was this “Voltron”, to cause the two groups with the most tension between them to agree? ****

**Hunk had grabbed a hold of Pidge’s bag and was shifting through it.** ****

**“Well, last night I was rummaging through Pidge’s stuff, and I found this picture.” He held up a picture of Matt and Pidge, the Kerberos ship in the background. “Look, it’s his girlfriend.” He chuckled.** ****

**Pidge let out a squawk and swiped it from his hands. “Hey, give me that! What were you doing in my stuff?” she demanded, grabbing her bag back from her larger friend so that she could put it back in.** ****

**“I was looking for a candy bar,” Hunk said, utterly shameless. “But then I started reading his diary -” he pulled out a journal from behind his back.** ****

**“What?!” She was back on her feet in a flash, once again to swipe it out of Hunk’s hands.** ****

**Hunk didn’t notice her indignation. He continued on, oblivious, “I notice the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line.”** ****

There were confused looks from most people in the room. They had no idea what that meant. ****

**The Keith on screen shared their confusion. “Frown who?” he asked.** ****

**“It’s a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only this element doesn’t exist on Earth,” Hunk explained. “I thought it might be this Voltron.”** ****

There were sounds of understanding from around the room. ****

“Well done, Hunk,” Sam praised, giving the large teen a cheerful grin. ****

He blushed. “Thanks, Commander Holt.” ****

**“I think I can build a machine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter,” Hunk finished.** ****

**“Hunk, you big, gassy genius!” Lance cheered.** ****

**“It’s pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this.” As he spoke, he pulled out yet another piece of paper, this one with a graph on it.** ****

**“Give me that.” This time it was Keith’s turn to swipe what Hunk was holding.** ****

**He walked back over to the board, holding the paper up to compare it to a picture of the energy site. The graphs on the line looked exactly like the peaks of the boulders in the picture.** ****

“Well that’s just creepy,” Veronica remarked, unnerved. “Aren’t things lining up just a little too well?” ****

The Paladins shared a look. They had all thought the exact same thing, But then Blue had chosen Lance, and it had started to feel a little bit more like fate. ****

**Another scene change.** ****

**The Paladins were standing at the energy site, staring at the peaks of the boulders.** ****

**“Okay, I admit it. This is super freaky,” Lance said.** ****

**Hunk was holding a device in his hands, a cable connecting it to the satellite dish Pidge was holding up. The device was beeping.** ****

**“I’m getting a reading,” he said, looking down at it. He took a couple steps, stopped, squinted around at everything, then moved on. The others followed behind him until they were brought to one specific cave tucked away behind the large boulders, practically out of sight.** ****

**“Whoa,” Hunk gasped.** ****

**Inside, the cave walls were absolutely covered in lions.** ****

“Cool!” Sylvio shouted, throwing his hands in the air. ****

“You want to know the best part?” Lance asked him, smiling at his enthusiasm. ****

“Please, please, please!” Sylvio begged. “Pretty please, Uncle Lance?” ****

Lance leaned over so that he could whisper in his ear. “It gets even cooler.” ****

His nephew let out another shout, now practically vibrating in place. Luis shot Lance a mock-stern look and waggled a finger at him. Lance held his hands up innocently, not even trying to look repentant for winding up his nephew. ****

**“What are these?” Shiro wondered.** ****

**As Keith explained that they were the carvings that he had talked about earlier, Lance wandered away from the group, taking a closer look at the cave’s wall. He let out a sound of contemplation, reaching out a hand to brush over one of the markings.** ****

**Immediately, it glowed a bright blue.** ****

There were gasps from around the room, no one having thought that anything would happen.  ****

“What the hell?” Hunk’s sister demanded. ****

_ And it’s only going to get worse from here, _ Shiro thought drily. At this point, he would gladly take pictures that glowed over everything else. ****

**Lance jerked back as all around the Paladins, the images started to glow.** ****

**“They’ve never done that before,” Keith remarked.** ****

**A circle of light appeared around them, the ground within it cracking and dissolving where they stood, light coming through the cracks.** ****

“I repeat - what the hell?!” ****

**The floor gave out, sending the Paladins down into the hole and into a natural water slide. They plummeted downwards, shouting and screaming. Pidge was even sitting on Hunk’s shoulders, pulling at his hair as they hurtled further into the earth.** ****

There were more noises of surprise. ****

Lance’s father turned towards his son, concerned. “Were you okay?” he asked. ****

“We were fine, Papa,” Lance promised, giving him a pat on the shoulder for comfort. “The worst part was the landing.” He rubbed at the side of his butt. That landing had been  _ rough. _ ****

**They were spat out well above ground level, landing in a shallow pool of water. Lance was first, followed by Shiro (who was unfortunate enough to do a belly-flop), then Keith, and then Pidge and Hunk, Pidge still sitting on him. Miraculously, no one managed to land on any one else (excluding Pidge on Hunk, of course).** ****

There were sympathetic winces all around. Even if there was water for the Paladins to land in, there wasn’t really enough to cushion the blow completely. In other words - that landing would have sucked. ****

**Lance was the first one able to get into an upright position, rising so that he was kneeling in the water. Slowly, his eyes widened and gradually moved upwards.** ****

**The camera switched angles, showing his back and the enormous, blue lion that sat in front of him, surrounded by a particle barrier.** ****

There were sounds of amazement from the humans, all of them marveling at the majestic cat towering over the humans on the screen. ****

Allura felt a burst of pride for her father’s work. There would never be a time when she would look at any of the Lions and feel anything but awe for them. ****

**Soon, all of them were standing in front of Blue, staring at her in amazement.** ****

**“Is this it?” Pidge asked hesitantly. “Is this the Voltron?”** ****

**“It must be,” Shiro agreed, just as hesitant as Pidge.** ****

**Keith was the first to approach, noting the force field that surrounded it as he drew closer. The others followed a fair distance behind him, but while Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro walked in a straight line, Lance was zig-zagging all over, eyes never leaving the Lion in front of them.** ****

Veronica stared at him. “Lance, what are you doing?” she asked. ****

He shrugged, not bothering to answer verbally. The show would probably explain for him, and on the off chance that it didn’t, then he would tell her. ****

**“Does anyone else get the feeling that this thing is staring at them?” he asked the others.** ****

**Behind him, Shiro gave him a look that spoke volumes. “No,” he drawled, even as Lance continued to do his evasive walking.** ****

**Lance wasn’t giving up, though. “Yeah, the eyes are totally following me.”** ****

Now he was getting weird looks from everyone not in the know about the Lions. 

Great. Just what he needed. ****

**A close up of Blue popped up, which did nothing to help the viewers determine if its eyes were actually following Lance or not.**

**The only thing the eyes did was gleam once Keith had reached the barrier, giving the Lion the appearance of sentience.** ****

**Keith touched the barrier in multiple places, mumbling to himself as he did. Wherever his fingers met the shield, waves rippled outwards. “I wonder how we get through this.” Because the camera had taken up place from behind the shield looking out, his voice sounded slightly muffled.** ****

**“Maybe you just have to knock,” Lance suggested, reaching forward to do just that.** ****

“I doubt it,” Leifsdottir said. “With how advanced the ship appears to be, the likelihood of that force field opening up just because you knocked on it is slim to none.” ****

Lance just smirked at her. ****

**He gave two knocks on the particle barrier, letting out a yelp when it began to glow blue, just like the lion images in the cave had.** ****

**Blue’s eyes shined and the barrier dissolved into nothingness, the ruins under the giant cat glowing iridescent blue and a strong wind kicking up.** ****

“I stand corrected.” ****

**Suddenly, an image of five lions came on to the screen, all of them combining together in a blast of light. When the light died down, a giant mecha was revealed, floating in space, holding a flaming sword in one hand, winding it up to slash at the screen.** ****

**With a flash of fire, the viewers were once again looking at the stunned faces of the Paladins, with the camera focused on Lance.** ****

“...what?” ****

It honestly didn’t matter who asked the question, because it was fair to say the majority of the humans present were thinking the same thing. ****

Slowly, Matt turned to face his sister. “Voltron… is a giant mecha made from five different lions.” His voice was flat. ****

His sister nodded. ****

“A mecha. Made from spaceship lions.” ****

“Yeah.” ****

“...what?” ****

While the adults and teens in the room were having a hard time wrapping their heads around that one, the kids were having a blast. ****

“That is  _ so  _ **_cool!_ ** _ ” _ Sylvios yelled, throwing his hands up into the air. His sister was letting out squeals of joy from beside him. On the next couch over, Hunk’s niece and nephew were also making their own excited noises, fawning over the cool alien spaceship. ****

**The camera panned out, showing that all the Paladins were looking rather dumbstruck. The vision seemed to have been too much for Hunk, who had ended up sitting on the ground. Simultaneously, they all let out a “whoa”.** ****

**“Uh, did everyone just see that?” Lance questioned, eyes never leaving the Lion in front of him.** ****

**“Voltron is a robot! Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!” Hunk bust out.** ****

**“And this thing is only a part of it,” Pidge continued, since words seemed to have failed Hunk again after that little outburst. She took on a thoughtful air. “I wonder where the rest of them are.”** ****

**“This has to be what they’re looking for,” Shiro said.** ****

**The head of the Lion lowered towards them, allowing the viewers to see just how small the humans were in comparison to it for the first time.** ****

“Holy crap.” Surprisingly enough, that one was choked out by Commander Holt. ****

**The Lion opened its mouth and lowered a ramp, the bottom of it coming to rest just in front of Lance.** ****

**He stared at it in surprise before looking to the side in contemplation, letting out a, “Hmmm.”** ****

Lance’s mother whipped around to stare at him, murder on her face. “Lance, if you go into the lion spaceship, you will be grounded for the rest of your life. Do you hear me, young man?” ****

“This has already happened!” Lance protested, waving at the screen. “You can’t ground me for this!” He turned to his father, turning pleading eyes on him for help. ****

But his father abandoned him, shaking his head to show that he wasn’t going to be getting in the middle of this; his son was on his own. ****

Aaaaannnnnndddddd his father was a traitor. Good to know. ****

_ Okay, I need something else. Quick, quick! Something to distract her before she can actually go through with it. _ Lance’s eyes darted around the room, searching for anything that would get his mother to back down, at least for a little while.  _ No, no, that won’t wo- got it! _ ****

“How about we talk about it after the episode?” he asked desperately. ****

His mother’s eyes narrowed, obviously not buying it, so he leaned over to whisper to her, “If we get into this here, people are going to start giving us looks. Wouldn’t it be better to do this when we can use another room for privacy?” His mother hesitated, looking like she was contemplating his words.  _ Almost there, almost there. Just one last push.  _ “I mean -” here he flicked his eyes around the room, making a point to indicate the other people surrounding them, almost all of them paying attention to the drama going on with the Blue Paladin and his family “ - we’re practically the center of attention already, do we really want people to gawk at us while we sort through this as a family?” ****

He may have been laying on a bit - okay, a lot - thick, but hey, as long as it worked. ****

His mother glanced around, taking in everybody around them. Finally, she seemed to decide that she didn’t want people gawking at them while she would be reaming Lance out. She pursed her lips, clearly not happy with letting it go, but finally nodded her acceptance to put the conversation on the back-burner. ****

Lance heaved a soft sigh of relief when she turned back to the TV screen without another word.  ****

Hunk gave him a thumbs-up, taking care to not be seen by either of their families, and got a small smile in return.

**Having decided that he did, in fact, want to explore the Lion, Lance let out a small huff of laughter and made his way up the ramp.**

**The scene changed, the camera showing what could only be the pilot’s chair, which was coloured blue and white. Behind it, the panels separating the chair from the rest of the Lion slid open, allowing Lance into the cockpit.**

**He took a quick look around, making a humming noise as he did, then rounded in front of the pilot’s chair.**

**He sat then took another quick look around, as if to check that there wasn’t anyone else already there. Seeing that the coast was clear, he crossed his arms over his chest and brought one leg over the other, the image of smug.**

**The chair slid forward with no warning, making Lance yelp, his whole body jerking forward with momentum when it stopped just as abruptly, an “oof” escaping him.**

“Nice scream, real manly,” Luis, Lance’s brother, ribbed.

Lance flushed faintly pink, grumbling under his breath about stupid chairs that moved unexpectedly.

**All around him, screens were popping up and coming to life, all of them glowing a light blue. The rest of the group was also trailing in, looking around them in wonder.**

“You know, I can almost forgive the spaceship for looking like a lion with tech like that,” Matt commented, eyes practically sparkling at all the new tech he was seeing.

**The screen in front of Lance also came alive, allowing everyone in the cockpit to finally see out the window at the huge cave the Lion was residing in.**

“Remarkable,” said Sam, just as starry-eyed as his son.

**“All right, very nice,” said Lance, clearly pleased with the ship.**

**“Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so that we’re all aware - we’re in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now.” That was Hunk, always being the reasonable one.**

“Thank you, Hunk!” Adam cried, pointing at the teen in question. “Why would you go into a random spaceship willingly?” he demanded the other Paladins.

They could only shrug in response, even Hunk. Because for all that he pointed out how weird it was, the large teen was still the third person on the ship. And truth be told, they didn’t really have a reason for going into the Lion besides for curiosity’s sake, but that probably wouldn’t fly so great.

**If the others had anything to say to that, the viewers didn’t get to hear it. Instead, the camera zoomed in on Lance as a deep purr sounded out, the other humans disappearing from behind him and the cockpit taking on an almost-transparent look, glowing dark blue all the while.**

**Just as quickly, though, everything returned to normal, leaving Lance confused.**

“How strange,” Ina remarked, eyeing the screen and then Lance in calculation.

**“Whoa. Did you guys just hear that?” he asked, turning towards his best friend.**

**“Hear what?” Keith asked in return.**

**Lance looked back to the screens in front of him. “I think it’s talking to me,” he answered.**

“Because  _ that’s  _ always a good sign,” James muttered sarcastically to his friends. They quickly muffled their snickers into their palms, trying to avoid bringing attention to themselves.

The Alteans, though, were nodding their approval. If a Lion was saying something, then it was important that the Paladin listen.

**Lance leaned closer to the screens, eyes squinted as he looked back and forth across them, trying to find something. He must have, because a few seconds later he was pressing at a few specific buttons.**

**The Lion responded to the command instantly, rising from it’s crouch to stand tall, roaring. It was an awe inspiring scene - not even ruined despite Pidge and Hunk’s screaming in the background.**

“So cool,” the little Nadia whispered, eyes wide. Her brother nodded his head quickly in agreement, eyes glued to the screen.

**Back in the cockpit, four of the five Terrans inside it looked slightly surprised by the unexpected movement of the Lion. Lance was gleeful, happy to try out the new “toy”.**

**“Okay. Got it. Now let’s try this.” Nodding his head at something only he had heard, Lance pushed forwards on the handles he had grabbed hold of at some point. Seconds later, the Blue Lion was bursting out of the side of the rock, taking to the sky. It did a flip, its thrusters engaging before it could hit the ground, sending it skimming over the desert before it shot upwards into the sky.**

“You know, a little part of me is dying inside because the Blue Lion has amazing maneuverability, but it’s design isn’t aerodynamic  _ at all. _ The bigger part, though, is torn between screaming incoherently in excitement and wanting me to jump up and down because  _ that is so cool,” _ Ryan said to his friends, eyes fixed on the screen and the alien spaceship flying through the sky.

**As cool as it looked on the inside though, the same couldn’t be said for what was happening inside the Blue Lion’s cockpit. All four of the Terrans not flying the spaceship were braced in awkward positions, with Hunk and Pidge screaming at the top of their lungs. Even Lance wasn’t spared, his hood acting as an anchor point for Pidge while his hair did the same for Hunk.**

Allura and Coran winced, then shared a look. They might need to add a few more practice ideas to the ones they already had planned - these one to help the Paladins keep their footing while in a Lion that they weren’t driving while going through evasive maneuvers. Hopefully, that would prevent something like… whatever that was from happening again.

The Terrans, on the other hand, were having a great time, cackling at the faces the Paladins were making as they shot through the air.

**Keith was able to explain the situation the Terrans were in quite candidly: “You are - the worst - pilot - ever!”**

The laughter in the audience doubled at the confused expression of the officer and Iverson on screen, neither quite sure what to make of the Blue Lion flying any which way in the background. The Alteans were trying to hide their smiles behind their hands, not wanting to be rude but finding it hard to contain their laughter. Even the Blades had their lips twitching upwards.

**As the Lion went sprinting across the ground, Hunk begged his best friend to make it stop, looking distinctly queasy.**

**“I’m not making it do anything,” Lance said. “It’s like it’s on autopilot!” Unlike his larger friend, Lance was having the time of his life, beaming so hard he could have outshone the sun.**

**As if to prove his point, Blue engaged her thrusters and shot upwards.**

**“Where are you going?!” Keith demanded.**

Here, the teenage and adult Terrans started to feel apprehensive. They couldn’t quite put a finger on as to why they did, but the feeling persisted.

**“I just said it’s on autopilot!” Lance said, voice dry. Then, more urgently, “She says there’s an alien ship approaching Earth! I think we’re supposed to stop it.”**

The mood took an immediate downturn, tension starting to creep into the room and down along spines.

Colleen clasped her hands together, twisting her fingers around themselves. She hadn’t really thought about it before, but now the thought was refusing to go away. Her daughter was in the ship that a universe-conquering alien race was after. Worry sunk like lead in her gut. As long as Katie was in that ship, she would have a target on her back. Colleen glanced to the side, where her daughter was currently leaning against her brother.  _ Please,  _ she begged silently,  _ not my daughter, too. Just let it be the one ship, then let her come home. _

The other families weren’t doing too hot, either. The Paladins had found themselves in the middle of the groups, always having at least one person touching them at all times.

Adam had shifted his bean bag to the side, which allowed him to lay back against both Shiro’s and Keith’s legs.

**All the Paladins-to-be were visibly concerned.**

**“What did she say, exactly?” Pidge asked, eyeing her friend.**

**“Well it’s not like she’s saying words. It’s more like she’s feeding ideas into my brain, kind of,” Lance explained, pointing at his head.**

“Huh, that’s actually kind of neat,” cadet Nadia said, rubbing at her chin.

“We’re not doing that,” Ryan rejected, not even bothering to turn towards her.

Nadia huffed, pouting, arms crossed as she slouched.

**“If this thing is the weapon they’re coming for, why don’t we just give it to them?” Hunk asked, drawing the attention of all the others. “Maybe they’ll leave us alone?” he hoped. Then, aside: “Sorry, Lion. Nothing personal.”**

Allura huffed out angrily. The day the Galras left anyone alone was the day the universe imploded on itself.

Coran put a restraining hand on her shoulder, stopping her from commenting on the Galra. It was best for her to keep those comments to herself, at least for the time being. It wouldn’t be good for them to go alienating a possible ally by making rude comments about a species when members of that species were currently in the room.

She gave him a confused frown but held her tongue.

**“You don’t understand,” Shiro cut in, expression grave. “These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There’s no bargaining with them. They won’t stop until everything is** **dead.”**

The mood was officially ruined. While the Terrans knew, intellectually, that the Galra Empire wasn’t exactly the nicest of things, they had been able to push the unpleasant thoughts out of their minds. Now, though, they were once again forced to paint a vivid picture of what could happen to them if the Empire won. Their planet, devoid of all it’s beauty. Countless people captured and forced into slavery, even as millions more were killed.

Allura looked away, heart aching for a planet that no longer existed.

**The Paladins on screen were somber.**

**“Oh. Never mind, then,” Hunk weakly said.**

**Blue finally made it into space, flying away from the planet to go confront whatever was headed to Earth. She had barely made any distance when a giant Galra battlecruiser came out of lightspeed in front of them.**

Jaws dropped. Blue had been giant compared to the Terrans, but she was barely anything when compared to the cruiser in front of her.

“Oh God,” James muttered. “I think I’m gonna be sick.” Sure, he wasn't Kogane's biggest fan, and didn’t really care much for the other teens with him, but that didn’t mean he wanted the other boy to die. And with how big that ship was, there was a very good chance that he could. Except - no. Kogane was over there, on the couch. And the flight simulator that the other three had failed was just yesterday, so that meant that they had survived.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

**The Terrans stared at the battleship in disbelief.**

**“They found me,” Shiro whispered, horrified.**

**Without any warning at all, the ship started firing purple lasers at where Blue was hovering above it.**

There were various shouts of surprise.

**“We’ve got to get out of here!” Pidge yelled.**

**“Hang on!” Lance yelled back.**

**Blue started to weave between the blasts, trying not to get hit as the humans aboard tried to come up with a plan. It took a few moments, but Lance finally came up with something.**

**“I think I know what to do!”**

**Pidge wasn’t comforted. “Be careful, man, this isn’t a simulator!”**

**“Well that’s good. I always wreck the simulator!” Lance said flippantly.**

Veronica facepalmed.

**The Blue Lion started to get closer to the Galra ship as it dodged until it was within range for whatever Lance wanted to do.**

**Lance thrust his left handle all the way forward and Blue fired a laser from her mouth, dragging it along the side of the battlecruiser and causing explosions in its wake.**

“I want one,” Nadia breathed. Seeing her friends’ looks, she amended, “Just, you know, without the murderous, purple aliens coming after it.”

**Still, that didn’t do much damage to the larger ship.**

**“Let’s try this,” Lance decided, leading to even more weaving through lasers as the smaller ship got in close enough to drag its claws along the battlecruiser. This was followed by even more explosions, as well as cheers and praises from the others in the cockpit.**

There was a small round of cheers in the viewing room, too.

**“I think it’s time to get these guys away from our planet,” Lance said, turning Blue away from Earth and hoping that they had caused enough of a distraction that the Galra would chase after them.**

“Wait a minute,” Liliana protested weakly, watching as her son flew further away from his home. Nobody seemed to hear her, though, their attention still on the screen.

**The scene changed to show a Galra.**

**“Lord Zarkon,” he reported, “the escaped prisoner and his people found the Lion. it attacked us and is heading out of the system.”**

**“Follow that Lion and alert all ships in the area to intercept. Capturing that Lion is your first and only priority,” the figure on the screen, Zarkon, ordered. He then cut off the call, not even waiting to hear his soldier’s response.**

**The enormous battlecruiser turned away from Earth, chasing after Blue at full speed, gaining on her.**

“Come on, come on,” Luis muttered under his breath, futilely urging the ship to go even faster.

**“Oh no,” Hunk groaned.**

**“They’re gaining on us!” Pidge called.**

**“It’s weird,” Lance remarked. Stars were blurring in the background with how fast they were going. “They’re not trying to shoot us. They’re just chasing.”**

**“Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens following us is a good thing?” That was Hunk. “I am not on board with this new direction, guys,” he protested.**

“I agree with Hunk,” said Matt, making a grab at his sister’s hands, giving one a squeeze when he got a hold on it.

**Keith, though, had something else on his mind. “Where are we?”**

**“The edge of the solar system,” came Shiro’s voice. In the background of the chase, Kerberos was being passed by. “There’s Kerberos.”**

The humans gaped, disbelieving.

Coran, noticing their looks, grew confused. “What’s with the looks of surprise?” he asked, twirling his moustache with a finger.

“It’s just really advanced for humans,” Shiro explained, turning slightly to face the older man. “Even our most advanced ships would still take months to get out that far.”

“Really?” Coran exclaimed, looking somewhat horrified.

Shiro shrugged, feeling slightly embarrassed at humanity’s lack of technological advancement (at least compared to some species).

**Suddenly, a wormhole came into being in front of the Blue Lion.**

**“This may seem crazy, but I think the Lion wants us to go through there,” Lance said. And it did seem so, since Blue hadn’t hesitated, flying towards the portal as quickly as she could.**

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” said Liliana, waving her hands in front of her like that would magically stop the Lion from moving towards the wormhole. She whipped around to face her son. “You don’t know where that goes and you want to fly into it?!” she demanded shrilly. “What in God’s name made you think that that is a good idea?!”

Lance had his own hands up, trying to calm his mother as she launched into a rant about safety and how  _ getting into an alien spaceship when it’s not absolutely necessary is stupid, Lance, and irresponsible! _

Seeing as he was having no effect on his mother, Lance shot a pleading look at Shiro.

Heart heavy, Shiro stood up from the couch he was sitting on, making his way over to the McClain family.

“Mrs. McClain, please, I need you to calm down,” he said softly to her, reaching out with his flesh hand to touch her arm and get her attention. The furious woman jerked at his touch, directing her ire at him, her eyes shining with worried anger. “I know this isn’t ideal -”

“‘Not ideal’? My son is in an alien spaceship, being chased across our solar system by a warlord’s lackey, and he’s about to fly through a portal to some random place in space!” she cried, hands clenching into fists on her lap. “This is far, far away from being ‘not ideal’! He’s only seventeen! It’s not  _ fair!” _ Her voice cracked and she slumped, anger giving way to worry and grief as she buried her face in hands. “He’s only seventeen,” she repeated, a sob caught in her throat.

Throat tight, Shiro crouched in front of the distraught woman, grabbing her hands in his so that he could look into her eyes, letting her see for herself just how serious his next promise was going to be. “You’re right,” he agreed, “it’s not fair. None of this is. But I promise that as long as I’m living, I’ll make sure that he comes home safe.” Here he looked at all the families, letting his eyes linger the longest on the Holts, because he had already failed that family once and he didn’t intend on doing it a second time. “I promise, they will all come home alive.”

Her red-rimmed eyes searched his face, searching for something. His resolve, maybe? Either way, Liliana must have found what she was looking for because she gave his hands a soft squeeze. She wasn’t okay, he could tell, and he didn’t blame her for that, but she was going to pull on a brave face. He admired the dedication and the courage that that took. She was a strong one, and it would take more than this to break her.

He pulled away to make his way back to his own spot, catching a complicated look on Adam’s face as he did. Once sitting, he leaned over to ask him what was wrong.

Adam sighed but refused to meet his eyes. “You’re a good man, Takashi,” he finally said. “And I know that you’ll do everything you can to make sure they stay alive. But sometimes I wished that you would put your own safety first. I know that makes me selfish, but while you’re out there protecting the others, who’s going to be looking after you? Who’s going to promise me that they’ll make sure  _ you _ come home?”

Not knowing what to say to that, Shiro straightened back up, thoughts whirling through his mind.

**“Where does it go?” Pidge asked, voice somber and just a little lost. She glanced at him.**

**“I don’t know,” Lance admitted, voice soft. “Shiro, you’re the senior officer here. What should we do?”**

**“Whatever is happening, the Lion knows more than we do. I say we trust her, but we’re a team now. We should decide together.”**

**They all shared glances with each other, coming to a decision.**

**Pidge placed her hand on Lance’s shoulder.**

**“All right. Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow.”**

**With no second thoughts, Lance flew Blue through the portal, light flaring in the middle after the Lion passed through it, then closing before the Galra ship could do the same.**

**They were safe.**

**but they were also gone.**

A lone tear dripped down a tanned cheek.

Adam had lost his partner to space for a second time.

It hurt just as much as the first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I have a few things I'm just gonna go over. It's a little long, but bear with me.
> 
> 1) I only realized, like, halfway through this chapter that a) the characters are going to be swearing and b) there are children present. *facepalm* And it won't be, like, excessive swearing or anything like that, but kids are still in the room. Just assume that the parents are really chill about it, or the swears are magically beeped out for the kids. Whatever floats your boat. Just a head's up about it. If it makes you uncomfortable, this won't be the fic for you, because I'm not going back and changing it. So deal. Or don't. Just don't bitch to me about it.
> 
> 2) I'm getting my information about Lance and Hunk's families through the Voltron Wiki, but even then I'm changing things slightly and giving names to people who we don't know the names of. If you're interested at all about it, feel free to leave a comment and I'll answer it to the best of my abilities. (And as a note: I named Lance's mother 'Liliana'. I don't know if this is actually a Cuban name or not. Not gonna lie, I just Googled popular female Cuban names and clicked on the first link I saw. So apologies in advance if it's not, but it sounds pretty so I think I'm gonna keep it.)
> 
> 3) About Shiro's age. The short of it is: I'm making him younger, so he's about 20 in this fic. 
> 
> For anyone whose interested as to why: when Voltron first came on to Netflix, the description read "five teenagers go to space". Then things happened (don't really know what, don't really care all that much) and Shiro became an adult. But I like the teenager idea better, because it just hits harder when bad things happen to young people (and I'm a sucker for whump). So I messed with the timeline a bit. In here, Shiro was picked to pilot the Kerberos mission just after turning eighteen, a few months passed as details were finalized, and then a few months later they were off to Kerberos which, we know, takes months to get there. So sometime after getting abducted, Shiro turns nineteen. Then a year passes before Shiro comes back to Earth. So at this point, Shiro is either just shy of turning twenty or just past turning twenty. Did I have to do this? No, no I did not. But I wanted to, so I did.
> 
> 4) I know this isn't all of episode 1, but this felt like a good cut-off point. The word count was getting ridiculous, and I figured it would be better to not have a giant chapter that's tedious to read through. So the first episode will either be two or three chapters worth of content. Not sure which yet.
> 
> 5) Thank you guys so much for the kudos, comments, and bookmarks! I'm really happy that you guys are enjoying it so far! If you have any questions about the story or just want to point out parts you like, feel free to leave a comment. It's good to hear back from you guys. Makes me go all soft and gooey on the inside.
> 
> 6) Last one, I promise. I'm using 'she/her' pronouns for all the Lions. It's just easier.
> 
> I think that's it. Once again, thanks for reading!
> 
> P.S. I changed the title of this fic. I think the new title sounds better while still relating to the plot. Plus, it's better to do this now while the fic is still (somewhat) new.

**Author's Note:**

> So? What did you guys think? I know the Blades were probably OC and the ending there was a little rushed, but I just really want to get to the part where they actually start to watch the show. 
> 
> Right now the only established couples are those of the families, such as Colleen and Sam and so on, and Adam and Shiro (who are right now in a rocky patch but will end up together). I'm pretty sure I know who I want to be with who, but I'm not going to tag anything just yet in case I change my mind. All I can say is that this is NOT going to be a Klance or Sheith fic, so if that's what you're looking for - sorry, but this isn't the fic for you. 
> 
> Other than that, feel free to leave me a comment if you have a question, or hit the kudos button if you liked what you read (although I wouldn't blame you if you held off on that one, since this is only the first chapter). But please don't ask about an update schedule, because I don't have one. I'll update when I update, and I really don't need people bothering me about it when I have other things going on in my life besides this.
> 
> I think that's all? So yeah. Thanks for reading!


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